OCR Text |
Show I OLUEJAMES MA Iff In His Denunciation of Taft and Defense of & Democracy & Baltimore, June 27. Ollle James' B address as permanent chairman of Iff the Democratic convention follows: fl "I am deeply grateful to this great H convention of patriotic American JH Democrats- for the high honor which (B 1 you have Jjestowed" on me In calling Si Tu t me to PreB'e ovcr tne deliberations :, - while you select the next president of ' J- this republic I ' ' "1 congratulate the Democrats of I R the nation on the fortunate auspices V J under which wo have assembled. Here ' -jW no charge of bribery hovers above this p,3w hall, no cry of thief and robber is i, hurled by one fellow Democrats at rWj i ' another. No soldiers stand in re- f ffi I serve to keop us from one another's fM' throats. Our deliberations here shall ' Wt be for the country's good, tolerant of Mb each other's views, believing as I do, agf that when the nominees are named , ju by this convention they will have back Wt of them every loyal Democrat in the i f republic, aa well as the hearty sup- J 1 i port of Progressive! everywhere. rfi1 ' "The Democratic party Is essentlal- i ly a party of the people because It is the people. It has fought a long, H I bard battle, when it seemed that night H -would never end and that day would 91 never dawn; but the battle in the in- N terest of the rights of the people we have contlnue'd to make until wo see the common enemy, the once great Republican party, divided, distracted and torn asunder, while Democracy Is united, harmonious, militant. "There are two records that will he presented to the American people in the coming campaign for their consideration con-sideration One is the record of the Republican party with promises betrayed be-trayed arrogantly, defiantly betrayed betray-ed and the other is the record if the Democratic party of promises faithfully faithful-ly kept The Republican party Itself recognizing that President Taft had been unfaithful to the great mass of Americans, refused by an honest majority ma-jority of the convention to renominate renomi-nate him, and It was only brought about by the most wholesale, conscienceless con-scienceless and deliberate unseating of delegates honestly elected that was ever perpetrated In American poll-tics. poll-tics. The Republican party, flushed with many victories, unheeding the demands of the people, took the reins of government In 1908, under the solemn sol-emn promise that it would revise the tariff in the interest of the consumer. consum-er. Instead of keeping this promise as it should have done, because It was Its bond of honor, It betrayed It The Republicans raised the tariff until un-til it reached its maximum of protection, protec-tion, being 47 per cent. The story of this base betrayal is known to all men. "The Democratic party appealed on Its record In the Sixty-first congress on the Payne-Aldrlch tariff bill to the American people and received from them a verdict of guilty against the Republican party and the bestowal of power upon ourselves. Kept Promises. riUW IcULULUHV M UU.VU tvCJL (JUL promises to them Is but a resume of our official action. Having control of but one branch of the law-making power, that of the house of representatives, represent-atives, we undertook to reform the tarifT in tho interest of the consuming consum-ing public, bollevlng as 'we do, that it is a tax that is paid by the consumer most generally to the trust or monopoly monop-oly that is sheltered by it, some times to the government; believing as we do that the right of taxation is a governmental gov-ernmental right, that it cannot be delegated to Individuals, trusts, corporations cor-porations or monopolies; believing as we do that the right to levy a tariff exists only for tho purpose of runnlug the government economically and efficiently ef-ficiently administered, we presented the tariff question to the people In segregated form. "First, we Teduced the tariff upon woolen clothes 40 per cent. This waa the one schedule that President Taft himself had said was too high, that It was only made possible by reason of the strength of the wool trust in the east and the wool growers in the west, but he could not veto It because be-cause he would have to veto nil the other fourteen schedules of the tariff tar-iff bill. This bill went to tho senate, and, though it was controlled by the opposition party, we found sufficient assistance from the ranks of our opponents to pass It up to the president. presi-dent. The president returned It o the congress of the "United States with his veto and assigned as his reason rea-son that he had no tariff board report re-port and therefore was uninformed on the question and for this reason returned it with his disapproval. "We tried to pass tho bill over his veto. We lacked only eleven votes of having the necessary two-thirds to pass It through tho house of representatives repre-sentatives over the president's veto. And today the wool trust stapds not behind a majority of the law-makers of the republic, but behind the veto of the president and the eleven more than one-third of the representatives of the American people, picking the pockets of the poor and ragged people peo-ple of Amorica. "Tho Republican "party became so arrogant and confident that this character of robbery would continue to meet the favor of the American people that it boldly wrote into thoir platform of 1S08 a declaration that the tarif should not only equal the difference in tho cost of production at home and abroad, but should be high enough in addition to this to give a profit to the manufacturer here. In all the history of civilized governments govern-ments no party ever became bo defiant de-fiant of the public will or went bo far as to say that all the rest of the people peo-ple Bhould be taxed and from their pocketa be taken a sufficient amount to the farmer, though the drouth people. ' The Republicans offered no profit to the farmer, though hthe drout might come and storms destroy an I failure meet his efforts. Laborer Offered No Profit. "The laborer was offered no profit. Ho might toll from early morn to late at night and sleep in a humble tenement. tene-ment. He was guaranteed no profit by the Republican platform. "The only class of our millions of Americans who were considered so peculiarly the favorite of the Republican Repub-lican party as to warrant it In declaring declar-ing that the taxing power of the go-ernment go-ernment could not Te used to take from the pockets of men in other pursuits pur-suits of life money sufficient to give a profit to their special favorites were the manufacturers "The tax upon woolen goods is the most indefensible of all taxes laid upon the American consumer. It s a tax collected at the drug store and by the undertaking establishments. The bill was passed by the Democratic Demo-cratic house and vetoed by the president, presi-dent, which would have saved to the consuming Americans upon the price of their clothing two hundred millions of dollars nor annum, but the wool trust cried out to the president an ' he unloosed the clutch that we had upon the threat or the wool monopoly by vetoing this bill and returning It to. congress. "When the veto of the wool bill was being considered four members of the president's cabinet for the first time through a service of 10 years that I have been theie, appeared upon the floor as a mighty lobby with tho patronage club in one hand, and promises prom-ises in the othnr rn nncfnln tlm -nr. ideiits veto upon this bill. "The Democratic party next passed a farmers and laborers' free list bill This bill was so just that it found Its' way through a senate controlled by the opposition and was passed on to tho president "Notwithstanding tho cost of living had increased more than 100 per cent in the last few years and the work-ingman's work-ingman's wages had stood still, notwithstanding not-withstanding non-meat-eating 'clubs were being formed In various cities of the United States by men, women and children, denjing themselves tho food they desired as needed, as a protest against the beef trust, notwithstanding not-withstanding the hnrvester trust was reaching its hand into the pockets of every farmer in America, notwithstanding notwith-standing the lumber trust was denv-Ing denv-Ing to milions of Americans the right to build a home that they could call their own, the president vetoed tho bill and returned it to the congress of the United States. "We undertook to pass it over the president's veto. We lacked leBS than a dozen votes of the sufficient number num-ber and today that harvester trust, the lumber trust, th beef tru6t all stand hidden behind President Taft; and a dozen more than one-third of the American representatives in con-gress( con-gress( looting the pockets or the American consumers. Taft's Record. "President Taft has the lono and singular distinction of being the only president in tho life of this republic who ever vetoed bills cheapening clothing to the people, lumber to the homeless and meat and bread to hungry hun-gry Americans and free farming implements im-plements to the toiling farmer. Thi3 bill would have saved to the consuming consum-ing public three hundred and fifty millions mil-lions a year. "The next bill we passed was tho one reducing tho tariff on cotton goodB, which would have seved manv millions of dollars to our people This, too, met with the veto of tho president. "Then we offered to the American People a bill taking the tnx off sugar, giving them tree Bugar and placing an excess tax on 11 incomes In excess of d,000. This bill is now In the sente of the United States, unacted upon. I believe in free sugar. It will save to every householder In this country two cents upon every pound of sugar. I believe in a tax upon Incomes; In-comes; I believo In an excise tax, and I deny that the people who are well to do; those who aro rich, those who are so fortunate as to have the thousands pouring in every year are unwilling to bear their part of the burden of taxation to sustain this mighty government of ours. "The platform adopted by one hranch of the Republican party at Chicago endorses tho veto of Presi dent Taft, yet at the flam time had to censure and condemn the record of from thirty to one hundred. Republicans Re-publicans In tho houBo of representatives represent-atives who supported us In favor of the passage of these bills. Tariff Plank Is Bad. 'The Ameilcan people aro told In tho tariff plank recently adopted In Chicago 'that thoy want n roport from tho tariff board beforo ny legislation is attempted. This is a motion for contlnuanco from a guilty client made by an expert criminal lawyer. "Its solo purpose Is delay. They want to make the power lodged by tho federal constitution In the hands of the people's representatives and place it in tho hands of the tariff board appointed by tho president of the United States those whom they can dismiss at will. And npon the report of this board tho Amorlcan people must depend for relief. "Nothing was said about tariff board report when the McKinley bill was passed or when tho Payne-Aldrlch bill was hurried through congress con-gress amid the cheers of ovory trust and monopoly In the land. "When does a demand for a roport of a tariff board come to our ears? It Is when tho tariff has already been fixed so high that they know thoy can got It no higher and If tho people's representatives were allowed to speak they would reduce It. "I believe in the rule of the people. I do not fear them. From the ranks has come every army that has fought for liberty In the history of the world. I am a progressive Democrat. Demo-crat. In this age the people command and the representatives must obey. Democratic Legislation. "We passed through, the house of representatives a resolution submitting submit-ting an amendment to the federal constitution, providing for tho election of United States senators by direct vote of tho people, In obedience to our promise in former Democratic national platforms. "We then passed through congress a bill providing for publicity of campaign cam-paign funds beforo as well as after elections and denying to corporations tho right to contribute to political parties at all. This measure is now a law. "Both election of senators by the peole and publicity of campaign funds met the disapproval of the Republican Re-publican convention, held In 1908, by more than 2D0 majority. 'We submitted to the country an amendment to the federal constitution providing for an Income tax. And before be-fore the snow flies I believe this amendment to the federal constitution will be endorsed by a sufficient number num-ber of states to make it a part" of our constitution. And then will come to the Democratic party the honor and tho glory of being the only political organization in the history bf this republic re-public that ever amended the federal constitution In a hundred years, save by tho sword. "I believe in the rigid enforcement of the Sherman anti-trust law. I would not proceed against these great monopolies In equity and, when I found them guilty, tell them not to do so any more or divide their army of pillage into separate maiaudlng bands, but I would proceed against them under criminal statutes and place upon them the felon's stripes I do not believo that a monopoly can be reasonable. "We are not opposed to big business. busi-ness. We recognize that in a big country there must be big business, but we say with all the emphasis of our souls that big business, like little lit-tle business must obey the lav We would strike from these trusts every character of protection. 'We would write a tariff law strictly for revenue only and place the tax first upon the luxuries and, If that did not produce sufficient revenue, then upon the comforts of life, and lastly we would lay the burden of taxation upon the necessities of life. "These infant industries must be weaned. Infants they began, but today to-day are mighty giants who have coalesced coal-esced their strength to drive skyward the cost of living and oppress the peo-nle. "The Republican platform adopted at Chicago upon the tariff and trust questions Is a puzzle absolutely meaningless to the American people, but they may rest assured that to this puzzle the trusts hold the key. Their financial plank shows great anxiety to make it easy for the farmer to borrow bor-row money It seems that they recognize recog-nize that their rule of this country of 1G years has made It necessary for the farmers to obtain credit "Tho Democratic party of this country coun-try never will consent that our financiers finan-ciers shall be Aldrlchlzed or controlled by tho money trust for they are yet Inspired by tho thought that Old Hickory Jackson more than three-quarters three-quarters of a century ago stood In front of the people's treasury and beat back these money changes. That spirit still lives In the heart of the American Democracy. Slaps Roosevelt. "President Taft did not take time to carry out, but he kicked out, the Roosevelt policies, Tho atonement that Roosevelt offers the American voters that he succeeded In deceiving by the election of President Taft, Is in presenting to them the one who made the mistake, who is himself. The American people fear he will be as much mistaken In himself as he was in President Taft. The atonement is not sufficient. If ho wants to come with clean hands and a cle'ar conscience, con-science, let him join with us and do what ought to have been done four years ago, elect a Democratic president. presi-dent. Roosevelt undertakes to achieve the presldoncy by proclaiming himself the leader of those policies which by denouncing he won, the presidency. "The progressive spirit that sweeps this country now Is called by some the principles of progressives, by others tho doctrines of the Insurgents but back yonder when a voice in the western west-ern wilderness cried out for them thcy were called 'The vagaries of Bryan, the dreamer.' However much we may differ In national conventions upon minor questions, all just men muBt admit ad-mit that the one living whose name will shine In history studded by a thousand flaming stars along side that of Jefferson and Jackson is that of William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska. Nebras-ka. Tribute to Lincoln. "Tho Democratic congress not only scorched Cannonlsm, but killed It. "Our Republican opponent Bald wo were unfriendly to the union heroes of the Civil war. But behold the record rec-ord of the Democratic congress still In session. It remained for us to give the most liberal pensions to these deserving de-serving men In their declining years that their old age might be made serene and bright. The war is over and that flag, the brightest, deahest colors ever knit together in a banner of the free, waves above a united, poo- pie, where It is loved by every heart and would be defended by every hand And coming from the South as I do, I can say that If Abraham Lincoln wero-alive this day there Is not a foot of soil under Dixie's sky u'pon which he might not pitch his tent and pillow pil-low his head upon a confederate soldier sold-ier s knee and sleep, and sleep In safety there." nn |