Chapter CX: Section 29 (30)

The delegates of the Democratic Party met in national
convention at Kansas City, on the Fourth of July. By unanimous
vote, on the following day, they again nominated William J.
Bryan, of Nebraska, for President, and subsequently associated
with him ex-Vice President Adlai E. Stevenson, of Illinois,
for Vice President. The platform, adopted on the same day,
reiterating the demand of 1896 for a free and unlimited
coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1, but emphasizing the
question of colonial expansion as the "paramount issue of the
campaign," was as follows: "'We, the representatives of the
Democratic party of the United States, assembled in national
convention on the anniversary of the adoption of the
Declaration of Independence, do reaffirm our faith in that
immortal proclamation of the inalienable rights of man, and
our allegiance to the constitution framed in harmony therewith
by the fathers of the Republic. We hold with the United States
Supreme Court that the Declaration of Independence is the spirit
of our government, of which the constitution is the form and
letter.
{654}
We declare again that all governments instituted among men
derive their just powers from the consent of the governed;
that any government not based upon the consent of the governed
is a tyranny; and that to impose upon any people a government
of force is to substitute the methods of imperialism for those
of a republic. We hold that the constitution follows the flag
and denounce the doctrine that an executive or congress,
deriving their existence and their powers from the
constitution, can exercise lawful authority beyond it, or in
violation of it. We assert that no nation can long endure half
republic and half empire, and we warn the American people that
imperialism abroad will lead quickly and inevitably to
despotism at home.

"Believing in these fundamental principles, we denounce the
Porto Rico law, enacted by a Republican Congress against the
protest and opposition of the Democratic minority, as a bold
and open violation of the Nation's organic law and a flagrant
breach of National good faith. It imposes upon the people of
Porto Rico a government without their consent, and taxation
without representation. It dishonors the American people by
repudiating a solemn pledge made in their behalf by the
commanding general of our Army, which the Porto Ricans
welcomed to a peaceful and unresisted occupation of their
land. It dooms to poverty and distress a people whose
helplessness appeals with peculiar force to our justice and
magnanimity. In this, the first act of its imperialistic
programme, the Republican party seeks to commit the United
States to a colonial policy inconsistent with republican
institutions and condemned by the Supreme Court in numerous
decisions.

"We demand the prompt and honest fulfilment of our pledge to
the Cuban people and the world, that the United States has no
disposition nor intention to exercise sovereignty,
jurisdiction, or control over the island of Cuba, except for
its pacification. The war ended nearly two years ago, profound
peace reigns over all the island, and still the Administration
keeps the government of the island from its people, while
Republican carpetbag officials plunder its revenue and exploit
the colonial theory to the disgrace of the American people.

"We condemn and denounce the Philippine policy of the present
Administration. It has embroiled the Republic in an
unnecessary war, sacrificed the lives of many of its noblest
sons, and placed the United States, previously known and
applauded throughout the world as the champion of freedom, in
the false and un-American position of crushing with military
force the efforts of our former allies to achieve liberty and
self-government. The Filipinos cannot be citizens without
endangering our civilization; they cannot be subjects without
imperilling our form of government; and as we are not willing
to surrender our civilization, or to convert the Republic into
an empire, we favor an immediate declaration of the Nation's
purpose to give to the Filipinos, first, a stable form of
government; second, independence; and third, protection from
outside interference such as has been given for nearly a
century to the republics of Central and South America. The
greedy commercialism which dictated the Philippine policy of
the Republican Administration attempts to justify it with the
plea that it will pay, but even this sordid and unworthy plea
fails when brought to the test of facts. The war of 'criminal
aggression' against the Filipinos, entailing an annual expense
of many millions, has already cost more than any possible
profit that could accrue from the entire Philippine trade for
years to come. Furthermore, when trade is extended at the
expense of liberty the price is always too high.

"We are not opposed to territorial expansion, when it takes in
desirable territory which can be erected into States in the
Union, and whose people are willing and fit to become American
citizens. We favor trade expansion by every peaceful and
legitimate means. But we are unalterably opposed to the
seizing or purchasing of distant islands to be governed
outside the Constitution and whose people can never become
citizens. We are in favor of extending the Republic's
influence among the nations, but believe that influence should
be extended not by force and violence, but through the
persuasive power of a high and honorable example.

"The importance of other questions now pending before the
American people is in nowise diminished and the Democratic
party takes no backward step from its position on them; but
the burning issue of imperialism, growing out of the Spanish
war, involving the very existence of the Republic and the
destruction of our free institutions, we regard as the
paramount issue of the campaign.

"The declaration of the Republican platform adopted at the
Philadelphia Convention, held in June, 1900, that the
Republican party 'steadfastly adheres to the policy announced
in the Monroe Doctrine,' is manifestly insincere and
deceptive. This profession is contradicted by the avowed
policy of that party, in opposition to the spirit of the
Monroe Doctrine, to acquire and hold sovereignty over large
areas of territory and large numbers of people in the Eastern
Hemisphere. We insist on the strict maintenance of the Monroe
Doctrine in all its integrity, both in letter and in spirit,
as necessary to prevent the extension of European authority on
these continents and as essential to our supremacy in American
affairs. At the same time we declare that no American people
shall ever be held by force in unwilling subjection to
European authority.

"We oppose militarism. It means conquest abroad and
intimidation and oppression at home. It means the strong arm
which has ever been fatal to free institutions. It is what
millions of our citizens have fled from in Europe. It will
impose upon our peace loving people a large standing army, an
unnecessary burden of taxation, and would be a constant menace
to their liberties. A small standing army and a well
disciplined State militia are amply sufficient in time of
peace. This Republic has no place for a vast military
establishment, a sure forerunner of compulsory military
service and conscription. When the Nation is in danger the
volunteer soldier is his country's best defender. The National
Guard of the United States should ever be cherished in the
patriotic hearts of a free people. Such organizations are ever
an element of strength and safety. For the first time in our
history and coeval with the Philippine conquest has there been
a wholesale departure from our time honored and approved
system of volunteer organization. We denounce it as
un-American, undemocratic and unrepublican and as a subversion
of the ancient and fixed principles of a free people.

{655}

"Private monopolies are indefensible and intolerable. They
destroy competition, control the price of raw material and of
the finished product, thus robbing both producer and consumer.
They lessen the employment of labor and arbitrarily fix the terms
and conditions thereof; and deprive individual energy and
small capital of their opportunity for betterment. They are
the most efficient means yet devised for appropriating the
fruits of industry to the benefit of the few at the expense of
the many, and, unless their insatiate greed is checked, all
wealth will be aggregated in a few hands and the Republic
destroyed. The dishonest paltering with the trust evil by the
Republican party in its State and National platforms is
conclusive proof of the truth of the charge that trusts are
the legitimate product of Republican policies, that they are
fostered by Republican laws, and that they are protected by
the Republican Administration in return for campaign
subscriptions and political support. We pledge the Democratic
party to an unceasing warfare in Nation, State and city
against private monopoly in every form. Existing laws against
trusts must be enforced and more stringent ones must be
enacted providing for publicity as to the affairs of
corporations engaged in interstate commerce and requiring all
corporations to show, before doing business outside of the
State of their origin, that they have no water in their stock,
and that they have not attempted and are not attempting to
monopolize any branch of business or the production of any
articles of merchandise; and the whole constitutional power of
Congress over interstate commerce, the mails and all modes of
interstate communication shall be exercised by the enactment
of comprehensive laws upon the subject of trusts.

"Tariff laws should be amended by putting the products of
trusts upon the free list, to prevent monopoly under the plea
of protection. The failure of the present Republican
Administration, with an absolute control over all the branches
of the National Government, to enact any legislation designed
to prevent or even curtail the absorbing power of trusts and
illegal combinations, or to enforce the anti-trust laws
already on the statute books, proves the insincerity of the
high sounding phrases of the Republican platform. Corporations
should be protected in all their rights and their legitimate
interests should be respected, but any attempt by corporations
to interfere with the public affairs of the people or to
control the sovereignty which creates them should be forbidden
under such penalties as will make such attempts impossible. We
condemn the Dingley tariff law as a trust breeding measure
skilfully devised to give to the few favors which they do not
deserve, and to place upon the many burdens which they should
not bear. We favor such an enlargement of the scope of the
Interstate Commerce law as will enable the Commission to
protect individuals and communities from discrimination and
the public from unjust and unfair transportation rates.

"We reaffirm and indorse the principles of the National
Democratic platform adopted at Chicago in 1896 and we
reiterate the demand of that platform for an American
financial system made by the American people for themselves,
which shall restore and maintain a bimetallic price level, and
as part of such system the immediate restoration of the free
and unlimited coinage of silver and gold at the present legal
ratio of 16 to 1, without waiting for the aid or consent of
any other nation.

"We denounce the currency bill enacted at the last session of
Congress as a step forward in the Republican policy which aims
to discredit the sovereign right of the National Government to
issue all money, whether coin or paper, and to bestow upon
National banks the power to issue and control the volume of
paper money for their own benefit. A permanent National bank
currency, secured by Government bonds, must have a permanent
debt to rest upon, and, if the bank currency is to increase
with population and business, the debt must also increase. The
Republican currency scheme is, therefore, a scheme for
fastening upon the taxpayers a perpetual and growing debt for
the benefit of the banks. We are opposed to this private
corporation paper circulated as money, but without legal
tender qualities, and demand the retirement of National bank
notes as fast as Government paper or silver certificates can
be substituted for them. We favor an amendment to the Federal
Constitution providing for the election of United States
Senators by direct vote of the people, and we favor direct
legislation wherever practicable. We are opposed to government
by injunction; we denounce the blacklist, and favor
arbitration as a means of settling disputes between
corporations and their employés.

"In the interest of American labor and the upbuilding of the
workingman as the cornerstone of the prosperity of our
country, we recommend that Congress create a Department of
Labor, in charge of a Secretary, with a seat in the Cabinet,
believing that the elevation of the American laborer will
bring with it increased production and increased prosperity to
our country at home and to our commerce abroad. We are proud
of the courage and fidelity of the American soldiers and
sailors in all our wars; we favor liberal pensions to them and
their dependents; and we reiterate the position taken in the
Chicago platform in 1896, that the fact of enlistment and
service shall be deemed conclusive evidence against disease
and disability before enlistment.

"We favor the immediate construction, ownership and control of
the Nicaraguan canal by the United States, and we denounce the
insincerity of the plank in the Republican national platform
for an Isthmian canal, in the face of the failure of the
Republican majority to pass the bill pending in Congress.

"We condemn the Hay-Pauncefote treaty as a surrender of
American rights and interests, not to be tolerated by the
American people.

"We denounce the failure of the Republican party to carry out
its pledges to grant statehood to the territories of Arizona,
New Mexico and Oklahoma, and we promise the people of those
territories immediate statehood, and home rule during their
condition as territories; and we favor home rule and a
territorial form of government for Alaska and Porto Rico.

"We favor an intelligent system of improving the arid lands of
the West, storing the waters for the purposes of irrigation,
and the holding of such lands for actual settlers.

{656}

"We favor the continuance and strict enforcement of the
Chinese exclusion law and its application to the same classes
of all Asiatic races.

"Jefferson said: 'Peace, commerce and honest friendship with
all nations, entangling alliances with none.' We approve this
wholesome doctrine and earnestly protest against the
Republican departure which has involved us in so-called world
politics, including the diplomacy of Europe and the intrigue
and land-grabbing in Asia, and we especially condemn the
ill-concealed Republican alliance with England, which must
mean discrimination against other friendly nations, and which
has already stifled the nation's voice while liberty is being
strangled in Africa.

"Believing in the principles of self-government and rejecting,
as did our forefathers, the claims of monarchy, we view with
indignation the purpose of England to overwhelm with force the
South African Republics. Speaking, as we believe, for the
entire American nation, except its Republican officeholders,
and for all free men everywhere, we extend our sympathy to the
heroic Burghers in their unequal struggle to maintain their
liberty and independence.

"We denounce the lavish appropriations of recent Republican
congresses, which have kept taxes high and which threaten the
perpetuation of the oppressive war levies. We oppose the
accumulation of a surplus to be squandered in such barefaced
frauds upon the taxpayers as the shipping subsidy bill, which,
under the false pretense of fostering American ship-building,
would put unearned millions into the pockets of favorite
contributors to the Republican campaign fund.

"We favor the reduction and speedy repeal of the war taxes,
and a return to the time-honored Democratic policy of strict
economy in governmental expenditures.

"Believing that our most cherished institutions are in great
peril, that the very existence of our constitutional Republic
is at stake, and that the decision now to be rendered will
determine whether or not our children are to enjoy those
blessed privileges of free government which have made the
United States great, prosperous and honored, we earnestly ask
for the foregoing declaration of principles the hearty support
of the liberty-loving American people, regardless of previous
party affiliations."

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1900.
Silver Republican Platform and Nominations.

The Republicans who broke from their party in 1896 on the
silver question, and supported Mr. Bryan for the presidency,
were still in affiliation with him and his party, but
preserving a distinct organization, assuming the name of
Lincoln Republicans. Simultaneously with that of the Democrats
(July 6), they held a convention at Kansas City, and named Mr.
Bryan as their candidate for President. The nomination for
Vice President was referred to the national committee, which
ultimately placed Mr. Stevenson's name on the Silver
Republican ticket. The platform adopted differed little in
leading principles from that of the Democratic party, except
in the greater emphasis put on the monetary doctrines that
were common to both. It was as follows:

"We, the Silver Republican party, in National Convention
assembled, declare these as our principles and invite the
cooperation of all who agree therewith:

"We recognize that the principles set forth in the Declaration
of Independence are fundamental and everlastingly true in
their applications of governments among men. We believe the
patriotic words of Washington's farewell to be the words of
soberness and wisdom, inspired by the spirit of right and
truth. We treasure the words of Jefferson as priceless gems of
American statesmanship.

"We hold in sacred remembrance the broad philanthropy and
patriotism of Lincoln, who was the great interpreter of
American history and the great apostle of human rights and of
industrial freedom, and we declare, as was declared by the
convention that nominated the great emancipator, that the
maintenance of the principles promulgated in the Declaration
of Independence and embodied in the Federal Constitution,
'that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among
these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to
secure these rights governments are instituted among men,
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,'
is essential to the preservation of our republican
institutions.

"We declare our adherence to the principle of bimetallism as
the right basis of a monetary system under our National
Constitution, a principle that found place repeatedly in
Republican platforms from the demonetization of silver in 1873
to the St. Louis Republican Convention of 1896. Since that
convention a Republican Congress and a Republican President,
at the dictation of the trusts and money power, have passed
and approved a currency bill which in itself is a repudiation
of the doctrine of bimetallism advocated theretofore by the
President and every great leader of his party.

"This currency law destroys the full money power of the silver
dollar, provides for the payment of all government obligations
and the redemption of all forms of paper money in gold alone;
retires the time-honored and patriotic greenbacks,
constituting one-sixth of the money in circulation, and
surrenders to banking corporations a sovereign function of
issuing all paper money, thus enabling these corporations to
control the prices of labor and property by increasing or
diminishing the volume of money in circulation, thus giving
the banks power to create panics and bring disaster upon
business enterprises. The provisions of this currency law
making the bonded debt of the Republic payable in gold alone
change the contract between the Government and the bondholders
to the advantage of the latter, and is in direct opposition to
the declaration of the Matthews resolution passed by Congress
in 1878, for which resolution the present Republican
President, then a member of Congress, voted, as did also all
leading Republicans, both in the House and Senate. We declare
it to be our intention to lend our efforts to the repeal of
this currency law, which not only repudiates the ancient and
time-honored principles of the American people before the
Constitution was adopted, but is violative of the principles
of the Constitution itself, and we shall not cease our efforts
until there has been established in its place a monetary
system based upon the free and unlimited coinage of silver and
gold into money at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1 by the
independent action of the United States, under which system
all paper money shall be issued by the Government and all such
money coined or issued shall be a full legal tender in payment
of all debts, public and private, without exception.

{657}

"We are in favor of a graduated tax upon incomes, and if
necessary to accomplish this we favor an amendment to the
Constitution.

"We believe that United States Senators ought to be elected by
direct vote of the people, and we favor such amendment of the
Constitution and such legislation as may be necessary to that
end.

"We favor the maintenance and the extension wherever
practicable of the merit system in the public service,
appointments to be made according to fitness, competitively
ascertained, and public servants to be retained in office only
so long as shall be compatible with the efficiency of the
service.

"Combinations, trusts, and monopolies contrived and arranged
for the purpose of controlling the prices and quantity of
articles supplied to the public are unjust, unlawful, and
oppressive. Not only do these unlawful conspiracies fix the
prices of commodities in many cases, but they invade every
branch of the State and National Government with their
polluting influence and control the actions of their employés
and dependents in private life until their influence actually
imperils society and the liberty of the citizen. We declare
against them. We demand the most stringent laws for their
destruction and the most severe punishment of their promoters
and maintainers and the energetic enforcement of such laws by
the courts.

"We believe the Monroe doctrine to be sound in principle and a
wise National policy, and we demand a firm adherence thereto.
We condemn acts inconsistent with it and that tend to make us
parties to the interests and to involve us in the
controversies of European nations and to recognition by
pending treaty of the right of England to be considered in the
construction of an interoceanic canal. We declare that such
canal, when constructed, ought to be controlled by the United
States in the interests of American nations.

"We observe with anxiety and regard with disapproval the
increasing ownership of American lands by aliens and their
growing control over our international transportation, natural
resources, and public utilities. We demand legislation to
protect our public domain, our natural resources, our
franchises, and our internal commerce and to keep them free
and maintain their independence of all foreign monopolies,
institutions, and influences, and we declare our opposition to
the leasing of the public lands of the United States whereby
corporations and syndicates will be able to secure control
thereof and thus monopolize the public domain, the heritage of
the people.

"We are in favor of the principles of direct legislation. In
view of the great sacrifice made and patriotic services
rendered we are in favor of liberal pensions to deserving
soldiers, their widows, orphans, and other dependents. We
believe that enlistment and service should be accepted as
conclusive proof that the soldier was free from disease and
disability at the time of his enlistment. We condemn the
present administration of the pension laws.

"We tender to the patriotic people of the South African
Republics our sympathy and express our admiration for them in
their heroic attempts to preserve their political freedom and
maintain their national independence. We declare the
destruction of these republics and the subjugation of their
people to be a crime against civilization. We believe this
sympathy should have been voiced by the American Congress, as
was done in the case of the French, the Greeks, the
Hungarians, the Poles, the Armenians, and the Cubans, and as
the traditions of this country would have dictated. We declare
the Porto Rican Tariff law to be not only a serious but a
dangerous departure from the principles of our form of
government. We believe in a republican form of government and
are opposed to monarchy and to the whole theory of
imperialistic control.

"We believe in self-government—a government by the consent of
the governed—and are unalterably opposed to a government based
upon force. It is clear and certain that the inhabitants of
the Philippine Archipelago cannot be made citizens of the
United States without endangering our civilization. We are,
therefore, in favor of applying to the Philippine Archipelago
the principle we are solemnly and publicly pledged to observe
in the case of Cuba.

"There no longer being any necessity for collecting war taxes,
we demand the repeal of the war taxes levied to carry on the
war with Spain.

"We favor the immediate admission into the union of States the
Territories of Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.

"We demand that our nation's promises to Cuba shall be
fulfilled in every particular.

"We believe the National Government should lend every aid,
encouragement, and assistance toward the reclamation of the
arid lands of the United States, and to that end we are in
favor of a comprehensive survey thereof and an immediate
ascertainment of the water supply available for such
reclamation, and we believe it to be the duty of the General
Government to provide for the construction of storage
reservoirs and irrigation works so that the water supply of
the arid region may be utilized to the greatest possible
extent in the interests of the people, while preserving all
rights of the State.

"Transportation is a public necessity and the means and
methods of it are matters of public concern. Railway companies
exercise a power over industries, business, and commerce which
they ought not to do, and should be made to serve the public
interests without making unreasonable charges or unjust
discriminations.

"We observe with satisfaction the growing sentiment among the
people in favor of the public ownership and operation of
public utilities.

"We are in favor of expanding our commerce in the interests of
American labor and for the benefit of all our people by every
honest and peaceful means. Our creed and our history justify
the nations of the earth in expecting that wherever the
American flag is unfurled in authority human liberty and
political liberty will be found. We protest against the
adoption of any policy that will change in the thought of the
world the meaning of our flag.

"We are opposed to the importation of Asiatic laborers in
competition with American labor, and favor a more rigid
enforcement of the laws relating thereto.

"The Silver Republican party of the United States, in the
foregoing principles, seeks to perpetuate the spirit and to
adhere to the teachings of Abraham Lincoln."

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1900.
Platform of the American League of Anti-Imperialists.

Republicans and others opposed to a policy of conquest, and to
the government of people, not as citizens, but as subjects of
the Republic of the United States, and who wished to make that
opposition distinct and emphatic in the presidential canvass,
met in convention at Indianapolis, on the 16th of August, as
the "Liberty Congress of the American League of
Anti-Imperialists." One party among them thought the best
demonstration of public opinion on this issue could be
obtained by the nomination of a third ticket; while another
and larger party deemed it expedient to indorse the candidacy
of William J. Bryan, as a pronounced opponent of the imperial
policy. The views of the latter prevailed, and the indorsement
of Mr. Bryan was carried in the convention; but many of the
former refused submission to the vote of the majority, and
subsequently held a Third Party convention at New York (see
below). The Indianapolis Declaration was as follows:

"This Liberty Congress of Anti-Imperialists recognizes a great
National crisis, which menaces the Republic, upon whose future
depends in such large measure the hope of freedom throughout
the world. For the first time in our country's history the
President has undertaken to subjugate a foreign people and to
rule them by despotic power. He has thrown the protection of
the flag over slavery and polygamy in the Sulu Islands. He has
arrogated to himself the power to impose upon the inhabitants
of the Philippines government without their consent and
taxation without representation. He is waging war upon them
for asserting the very principles for the maintenance of which
our forefathers pledged their lives, their fortunes and their
sacred honor. He claims for himself and Congress authority to
govern the territories of the United States without
constitutional restraint.

"We believe in the Declaration of Independence. Its truths,
not less self-evident to-day than when first announced by our
fathers, are of universal application and cannot be abandoned
while government by the people endures.

"We believe in the Constitution of the United States. It gives
the President and Congress certain limited powers and secures
to every man within the jurisdiction of our Government certain
essential rights. We deny that either the President or
Congress can govern any person anywhere outside the
Constitution.

"We are absolutely opposed to the policy of President
McKinley, which proposes to govern millions of men without
their consent, which in Porto Rico establishes taxation
without representation, and government by the arbitrary will
of a legislature unfettered by constitutional restraint, and
in the Philippines prosecutes a war of conquest and demands
unconditional surrender from a people who are of right free
and independent. The struggle of men for freedom has ever been
a struggle for constitutional liberty. There is no liberty if
the citizen has no right which the Legislature may not invade,
if he may be taxed by the Legislature in which he is not
represented, or if he is not protected by fundamental law
against the arbitrary action of executive power. The policy of
the President offers the inhabitants of Porto Rico, Hawaii and
the Philippines no hope of independence, no prospect of
American citizenship, no constitutional protection, no
representation in the Congress which taxes them. This is the
government of men by arbitrary power without their consent.
This is imperialism. There is no room under the free flag of
America for subjects. The President and Congress, who derive
all their powers from the Constitution, can govern no man
without regard to its limitations.

"We believe the greatest safeguard of liberty is a free press,
and we demand that the censorship in the Philippines, which
keeps from the American people the knowledge of what is done
in their name, be abolished. We are entitled to know the
truth, and we insist that the powers which the President holds
in trust for us shall not be used to suppress it.

"Because we thus believe, we oppose the reelection of Mr.
McKinley. The supreme purpose of the people in this momentous
campaign should be to stamp with their final disapproval his
attempt to grasp imperial power. A self-governing people can
have no more imperative duty than to drive from public life a
Chief Magistrate who, whether in weakness or of wicked
purpose, has used his temporary authority to subvert the
character of their government and to destroy their National
ideals.

"We, therefore, in the belief that it is essential at this
crisis for the American people again to declare their faith in
the universal application of the Declaration of Independence
and to reassert their will that their servants shall not have
or exercise any powers whatever other than those conferred by
the Constitution, earnestly make the following recommendations
to our countrymen:

"First, that, without regard to their views on minor questions
of domestic policy, they withhold their votes from Mr.
McKinley, in order to stamp with their disapproval what he has
done.

"Second, that they vote for those candidates for Congress in
their respective districts who will oppose the policy of
imperialism.

"Third, while we welcome any other method of opposing the
re-election of Mr. McKinley we advise direct support of Mr.
Bryan as the most effective means of crushing imperialism. We
are convinced of Mr. Bryan's sincerity and of his earnest
purpose to secure to the Filipinos their independence. His
position and the declarations contained in the platform of his
party on the vital issue of the campaign meet our unqualified
approval.

"We recommend that the Executive committees of the American
Anti-Imperialist League and its allied leagues continue and
extend their organizations, preserving the independence of the
movement; and that they take the most active part possible in
the pending political campaign.

"Until now the policy which has turned the Filipinos from warm
friends to bitter enemies, which has slaughtered thousands of
them and laid waste their country, has been the policy of the
President. After the next election it becomes the policy of
every man who votes to re-elect him and who thus becomes with
him responsible for every drop of blood thereafter shed.

"In declaring that the principles of the Declaration of
Independence apply to all men, this Congress means to include
the negro race in America as well as the Filipinos. We
deprecate all efforts, whether in the South or in the North,
to deprive the negro of his rights as a citizen under the
Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United
States."

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1900.
The "Third Party" Anti-Imperialist Platform and Nominations.

The Anti-Imperialists who desired a Third Party ticket in the
field, called a convention which met in the city of New York,
September 5, and put in nomination for President and Vice
President Senator Donelson Caffery, of Louisiana, and
Archibald Murray Howe, of Massachusetts. The name "National
Party" was assumed, and its "aims and purposes" were thus
declared:

"We find our country threatened with alternative perils. On
the one hand is a public opinion misled by organized forces of
commercialism, that have perverted a war intended by the
people to be a war of humanity into a war of conquest. On the
other is a public opinion swayed by demagogic appeals to
factional and class passions, the most fatal of diseases to a
republic. We believe that either of these influences, if
unchecked, would ultimately compass the downfall of our
country, but we also believe that neither represents the sober
conviction of our countrymen. Convinced that the extension of
the jurisdiction of the United States for the purpose of
holding foreign people as colonial dependents is an innovation
dangerous to our liberties and repugnant to the principles
upon which our Government is founded, we pledge our earnest
efforts through all constitutional means:

"First, to procure the renunciation of all imperial or
colonial pretensions with regard to foreign countries claimed
to have been acquired through or in consequence of military or
naval operations of the last two years.

"Second, we further pledge our efforts to secure a single gold
standard and a sound banking system.

"Third, to secure a public service based on merit only.

"Fourth, to secure the abolition of all corrupting special
privileges, whether under the guise of subsidies, bounties,
undeserved pensions or trust breeding tariffs."

Within a few weeks after the holding of this convention,
Senator Caffery and Mr. Howe withdrew their names from the
canvass, and it was decided to appoint electors-at-large in as
many states as possible, to receive the votes of those
supporting the movement.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1900.
Social Democratic Party Platform and Nominations.

The last distinct movement of organization for the
presidential election was that of a "Social Democratic Party,"
whose convention, at Chicago, September 29, placed Eugene V.
Debs, of Illinois, in nomination for President, and Job
Harriman, of California, for Vice President, on principles
declared as follows:

"The Social Democratic party of America declares that life,
liberty, and happiness depend upon equal political and
economic rights.

"In our economic development an industrial revolution has
taken place, the individual tool of former years having become
the social tool of the present. The individual tool was owned
by the worker, who employed himself and was master of his
product. The social tool, the machine, is owned by the
capitalist, and the worker is dependent upon him for
employment. The capitalist thus becomes the master of the
worker, and is able to appropriate to himself a large share of
the product of his labor.

"Capitalism, the private ownership of the means of production,
is responsible for the insecurity of subsistence, the poverty,
misery, and degradation of the ever-growing majority of our
people; but the same economic forces which have produced and
now intensify the capitalist system will necessitate the
adoption of Socialism, the collective ownership of the means
of production for the common good and welfare.

"The present system of social production and private ownership
is rapidly converting society into two antagonistic classes—i.
e., the capitalist class and the propertyless class. The
middle class, once the most powerful of this great nation, is
disappearing in the mill of competition. The issue is now
between the two classes first named. Our political liberty is
now of little value to the masses unless used to acquire
economic liberty. Independent political action and the
trade-union movement are the chief emancipating factors of the
working class, the one representing its political, the other
its economic wing, and both must cooperate to abolish the
capitalist system.

"Therefore, the Social Democratic party of America declares
its object to be:

"First—The organization of the working class into a political
party to conquer the public powers now controlled by
capitalists.

"Second—The abolition of wage-slavery by the establishment of
a National system of cooperative industry, based upon the
social or common ownership of the means of production and
distribution, to be administered by society in the common
interest of all its members, and the complete emancipation of
the socially useful classes from the domination of capitalism.

"The working class and all those in sympathy with their
historic mission to realize a higher civilization should sever
connection with all capitalist and reform parties and unite
with the Social Democratic party of America. The control of
political power by the Social Democratic party will be
tantamount to the abolition of all class rule. The solidarity
of labor connecting the millions of class-conscious
fellow-workers throughout the civilized world will lead to
international Socialism, the brotherhood of man.

"As steps in that direction, we make the following demands:

"First-Revision of our Federal Constitution, in order to
remove the obstacles to complete control of government by the
people irrespective of sex.

"Second—The public ownership of all industries controlled by
monopolies, trusts, and combines.

"Third—The public ownership of all railroads, telegraphs, and
telephones; all means of transportation and communication; all
water-works, gas and electric plants, and other public
utilities.

"Fourth—The public ownership of all gold, silver, copper,
lead, iron, coal, and other mines, and all oil and gas wells.

"Fifth—The reduction of the hours of labor in proportion to
the increasing facilities of production.

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"Sixth—The inauguration of a system of public works and
improvements for the employment of the unemployed, the public
credit to be utilized for that purpose.

"Seventh—Useful inventions to be free, the inventor to be
remunerated by the public.

"Eighth—Labor legislation to be National instead of local, and
international when possible.

"Ninth—National insurance of working people against
accidents, lack of employment, and want in old age.

"Tenth—Equal civil and political rights for men and women, and
the abolition of all laws discriminating against women.

"Eleventh—The adoption of the initiative and referendum,
proportional representation, and the right of recall of
representatives by the voters.

"Twelfth—Abolition of war and the introduction of
international arbitration."

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1900.
The Canvass and Election.

The canvass preceding the election was much less excited than
that of 1896. The confusion of issues greatly lessened the
intensity with which they were discussed. Mr. Bryan again took
the field in person, travelling widely through all parts of
the country, making great numbers of speeches to immense
audiences everywhere; and Governor Roosevelt did the same on
the Republican side, to a somewhat less extent.

The election, which occurred on the 6th of November, was
conducted with the quiet order that is rarely broken at such
times in America. About fourteen millions of votes were cast,
of which, according to the returns compiled for the Tribune
Almanac,
President McKinley received 7,214,027,
and Bryan, 6,342,514.
For the Prohibition ticket, 197,112 votes were cast;
for the Socialist Labor ticket, 32,433;
for the Social Democratic ticket, 82,904;
and 78,444 votes were scuttered among other candidates.
The States carried for McKinley were:
California, giving 9 electoral votes;
Connecticut, 6;
Delaware, 3;
Illinois, 24;
Indiana, 15;
Iowa, 13;
Kansas, 10;
Maine, 6;
Maryland, 8;
Massachusetts, 15;
Michigan, 14;
Minnesota, 9;
Nebraska, 8;
New Hampshire, 4;
New Jersey, 10;
New York, 36;
North Dakota, 3;
Ohio, 23;
Oregon, 4;
Pennsylvania, 32;
Rhode Island, 4;
South Dakota, 4;
Utah, 3;
Vermont, 4;
Washington, 4;
West Virginia, 6;
Wisconsin, 12;
Wyoming, 3;

Total, 292.

For Bryan, the electoral votes of the following States
were given:
Alabama, 11;
Arkansas, 8;
Colorado, 4;
Florida, 4;
Georgia, 13;
Idaho, 3;
Kentucky, 13;
Louisiana, 8;
Mississippi, 9;
Missouri, 17;
Montana, 3;
Nevada, 3;
North Carolina, 11;
South Carolina, 9;
Tennessee, 12;
Texas, 15;
Virginia, 12;

Total, 155.

President McKinley was re-elected by a majority of 137 votes
in the Electoral College, and by a majority of nearly half a
million of the popular vote.

" The popular vote for President shows three interesting
things:

"(1) Many men of each party abstained from voting, for the
total was only 45,132 greater than in 1896, whereas the
increase in population adds about a million to the electorate
every four years. The total vote last year was 13,970,234. Mr.
McKinley received only about 100,000 more than in 1896, and
Mr. Bryan 130,000 less. Many men in each party, then, were
dissatisfied with their candidate and platform.

"(2) Mr. Bryan's largest gains were in New England, because of
the anti-Imperialistic feeling, and in New York and New Jersey
and Illinois, because of a milder fear of financial
disturbance; and his losses were greatest in Utah, in
Colorado, and in the Pacific States, an indication of better
times and of less faith in free silver.

"(3) Twelve Southern States cast a smaller vote than in 1896,
partly because of the elimination of the Negroes, and partly
because many Gold Democrats abstained from voting."

_The World's Work, February, 1901._

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1900.
The Democratic candidate on "Imperialism."

The issue which ought to have been supreme in the Presidential
election, because fundamental principles of government and
lasting consequences of policy were bound up in it, but which
was unhappily confused by prevailing anxieties in the
sensitive region of commercial and industrial affairs, is more
broadly and adequately defined in the declarations of the two
leading candidates, on their formal acceptance of nominations
by the Democratic and Republican parties, than it is in the
party platforms quoted above. The first to speak was Mr.
Bryan. Responding to the committee which notified him of his
nomination, at Indianapolis, ou the 8th of August, he devoted
the greater part of his remarks to the policy of colonial
acquisition on which the government had been embarked. The
following passages are fairly representative of the view taken
by those who condemned what they termed "imperialism," in the
undertaking of the government of the American Republic to
impose its sovereignty upon the people of the Philippine
Islands, and to hold their country as a "possession:"

"When the president, supported by a practically unanimous vote
of the House and Senate, entered upon a war with Spain for the
purpose of aiding the struggling patriots of Cuba, the
country, without regard to party, applauded. Although the
Democrats realized that the administration would necessarily
gain a political advantage from the conduct of a war which in
the very nature of the case must soon end in a complete
victory, they vied with the Republicans in the support which
they gave to the President. When the war was over and the
Republican leaders began to suggest the propriety of a
colonial policy, opposition at once manifested itself.

"When the President finally laid before the Senate a treaty
which recognized the independence of Cuba, but provided for
the cession of the Philippine Islands to the United States,
the menace of imperialism became so apparent that many
preferred to reject the treaty and risk the ills that might
follow rather than take the chance of correcting the errors of
the treaty by the independent action of this country. I was
among the number of those who believed it better to ratify the
treaty and end the war, release the volunteers, remove the
excuse for war expenditures, and then give the Filipinos the
independence which might be forced from Spain by a new treaty.
… The title of Spain being extinguished we were at liberty to
deal with the Filipinos according to American principles. The
Bacon resolution, introduced a mouth before hostilities broke
out at Manila, promised independence to the Filipinos on the
same terms that it was promised to the Cubans.
{661}
I supported this resolution and believe that its adoption
prior to the breaking out of hostilities would have prevented
bloodshed, and that its adoption at any subsequent time would
have ended hostilities. … If the Bacon resolution had been
adopted by the Senate and carried out by the President, either
at the time of the ratification of the treaty or at any time
afterwards, it would have taken the question of imperialism
out of politics and left the American people free to deal with
their domestic problems. But the resolution was defeated by
the vote of the Republican Vice-President, and from that time
to this a Republican Congress has refused to take any action
whatever in the matter.

"When hostilities broke out at Manila, Republican speakers and
Republican editors at once sought to lay the blame upon those
who had delayed the ratification of the treaty, and, during
the progress of the war, the same Republicans have accused the
opponents of imperialism of giving encouragement to the
Filipinos. …

"The Filipinos do not need any encouragement from Americans
now living. Our whole history has been an encouragement, not
only to the Filipinos, but to all who are denied a voice in
their own government. If the Republicans are prepared to
censure all who have used language calculated to make the
Filipinos hate foreign domination, let them condemn the speech
of Patrick Henry. When he uttered that passionate appeal,
'Give me liberty or give me death,' he expressed a sentiment
which still echoes in the hearts of men. Let them censure
Jefferson; of all the statesmen of history none have used
words so offensive to those who would hold their fellows in
political bondage. Let them censure Washington, who declared
that the colonists must choose between liberty and slavery.
Or, if the statute of limitations has run against the sins of
Henry and Jefferson and Washington, let them censure Lincoln,
whose Gettysburg speech will be quoted in defense of popular
government when the present advocates of force and conquest
are forgotten. … If it were possible to obliterate every word
written or spoken in defense of the principles set forth in
the Declaration of Independence, a war of conquest would still
leave its legacy of perpetual hatred, for it was God himself
who placed in every human heart the love of liberty. He never
made a race of people so low in the scale of civilization or
intelligence that it would welcome a foreign master.

"Those who would have this nation enter upon a career of
empire must, consider not only the effect of imperialism on
the Filipinos, but they must also calculate its effects upon
our own nation. We cannot repudiate the principle of
self-government in the Philippines without weakening that
principle here. …

"Our opponents, conscious of the weakness of their cause, seek
to confuse imperialism with expansion, and have even dared to
claim Jefferson as a supporter of their policy. Jefferson
spoke so freely and used language with such precision that no
one can be ignorant of his views. On one occasion he declared:
'If there be one principle more deeply rooted than any other
in the mind of every American, it is that we should have
nothing to do with conquest.' And again he said: 'Conquest is
not in our principles; it is inconsistent with our
government.' The forcible annexation of territory to be
governed by arbitrary power differs as much from the
acquisition of territory to be built up into states as a
monarchy differs from a democracy. The Democratic party does
not oppose expansion when expansion enlarges the area of the
Republic and incorporates land which can be settled by
American citizens, or adds to our population people who are
willing to become citizens and are capable of discharging
their duties as such. …

"A colonial policy means that we shall send to the Philippine
Islands a few traders, a few taskmasters and a few
officeholders and an army large enough to support the
authority of a small fraction of the people while they rule
the natives. If we have an imperial policy we must have a
great standing army as its natural and necessary complement.
The spirit which will justify the forcible annexation of the
Philippine Islands will justify the seizure of other islands
and the domination of other people, and with wars of conquest
we can expect a certain, if not rapid, growth of our military
establishment. …

"The Republican platform assumes that the Philippine Islands
will be retained under American sovereignty, and we have a
right to demand of the Republican leaders a discussion of the
future status of the Filipino. Is he to be a citizen or a
subject? Are we to bring into the body politic eight or ten
million Asiatics, so different from us in race and history
that amalgamation is impossible? Are they to share with us in
making the laws and shaping the destiny of this nation? No
Republican of prominence has been bold enough to advocate such
a proposition. The McEnery resolution, adopted by the Senate
immediately after the ratification of the treaty, expressly
negatives this idea. The Democratic platform describes the
situation when it says that the Filipinos cannot be citizens
without endangering our civilization. Who will dispute it? And
what is the alternative? If the Filipino is not to be a
citizen, shall we make him a subject? On that question the
Democratic platform speaks with equal emphasis. It declares
that the Filipino cannot be a subject without endangering our
form of government. A Republic can have no subjects. A subject
is possible only in a government resting upon force; he is
unknown in a government deriving its just powers from the
consent of the governed. "The Republican platform says that
'the largest measure of self-government consistent with their
welfare and our duties shall be secured to them (the
Filipinos) by law.' This is a strange doctrine for a
government which owes its very existence to the men who
offered their lives as a protest against government without
consent and taxation without representation. In what respect
does the position of the Republican party differ from the
position taken by the English government in 1776? Did not the
English government promise a good government to the colonists?
What king ever promised a bad government to his people? Did
not the English government promise that the colonists should
have the largest measure of self-government consistent with
their welfare and English duties? Did not the Spanish
government promise to give to the Cubans the largest measure
of self-government consistent with their welfare and Spanish
duties? The whole difference between a Monarchy and a Republic
may be summed up in one sentence. In a Monarchy the King gives
to the people what he believes to be a good government; in a
Republic the people secure for themselves what they believe to
be a good government. …

{662}

"The Republican platform promises that some measure of
self-government is to be given the Filipinos by law; but even
this pledge is not fulfilled. Nearly sixteen months elapsed
after the ratification of the treaty before the adjournment of
Congress last June, and yet no law was passed dealing with the
Philippine situation. The will of the President has been the
only law in the Philippine Islands wherever the American
authority extends. Why does the Republican party hesitate to
legislate upon the Philippine question? Because a law would
disclose the radical departure from history and precedent
contemplated by those who control the Republican party. The
storm of protest which greeted the Porto Rican bill was an
indication of what may be expected when the American people
are brought face to face with legislation upon this subject.
If the Porto Ricans, who welcomed annexation, are to be denied
the guarantees of our Constitution, what is to be the lot of
the Filipinos, who resisted our authority? If secret
influences could compel a disregard of our plain duty toward
friendly people, living near our shores, what treatment will
those same influences provide for unfriendly people 7,000
miles away? …