PROCEEDINGS REPUBLICAN NATIONAL St. Louis, June 16-18, 1896. tion Opens. The eleventh National Convention of the Republican party The Convenwas called to order at 12.20 P. M. by Senator Thomas H. Carter, of Montana, Chairman of the Republican National Committee, after which Rabbi Samuel Sale, of St. Louis, offered the following prayer: All Merciful and Most Gracious Father, Fountain of Light and Life, we seek thy presence and implore thy guidance in the toils and tasks of our earthly being. O, Thou who art enthroned in the soul of man and rulest in the destinies of nations, be nigh unto us now and show forth thy wondrous ways in this assembly of thy people. Harken unto thy servants, the bondmen of freedom, and pour out on them, who have come to do thy bidding in the service of truth and honor, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. Make righteousness the girdle of their loins and faithfulness the girdle of their hips, so that they may manfully discharge the sacred duties of their gathering, to further the well-being of the people, and to safeguard the honor and integrity of the nation. O, kindle anew in the hearts of our generation the altar flame of devotion to the high aims that inspired the minds of the founders of our republic, and, above all, illumined and immortalized the life of the Father of his Country. Fill us with a deep and abiding sense of the transcendent dignity and nobility of American citizenship and of the sacred obligations that should attend it, so that we may grow from day to day in the beauty of civic virtue, and our beloved land, from "hundredharbored Maine" to the vine-clad hills of the Golden Gate, from the ice-bound North to the warm and sunny South, may go from strength to strength, until it achieves its destiny to become the fixed and shining mark for every bark bound for the haven of law and liberty. Rabbi Sale's Plea for a Sense of the Dignity of American Citizenship. Warning ship of Gods of Gold and Let not the glory of our past be greater than the present, nor let us come to shame and grief by the worship of gods of gold and silver to the Against Worneglect of those ideals of the mind and soul which alone are worthy of a free man's homage and alone can secure the continued possession and enjoyment of civil and religious liberty. Remove from around us the Silver." The Call Read. Temporary Chairman Appointed. din and noise of insincerity and hollow-sounding shows, let bitter strife and wrangling cease, and, firmly bound in the love of our common country, let us realize how good and lovely it is for brethren to dwell together in harmony. Prosper Thou the work of this council, convened in the cause of the people, and when its message goes forth over the land may its golden ring bring to them the glad assurance that prosperity will brighten our homes, and the immediate jewel of our soul, the good name of our people and the credit of our government, shall remain untarnished forever May thy grace, O God, come upon us, and do thou establish the work of our hands. Amen. At the conclusion of the invocation Secretary Joseph H. Manley, of the National Committee, read the call in pursuance of which the Convention met. Then by direction of the National Committee Chairman Carter proposed, for the Convention's approval, Charles W. Chanted Fairbanks, of Indiana, for Temporary Chairman. The selection was indorsed by the Convention, and Mr. Fairbanks addressed that body as follows: The Convention's Duties and Responsibilities. Disaster from A Third of a Century of Re TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN FAIRBANKS' ADDRESS. GENTLEMEN OF THE CONVENTION: I am profoundly grateful for this expression of your generous confidence. As citizens we were never called upon to discharge a more important duty than that which rests upon us--the nomination of a President and Vice-President of the United States. This duty is a peculiarly impressive one at the moment, for it is already written in the Book of Fate that the choice of this Convention will be the next President and Vice-President of this great Republic. Three years of Democratic administration have been three years of panic, of wasted energy, of anxiety and loss to the American people, without a parallel in our history. To-day the people turn to the Republican party hopefully, confidently; and it is for us to meet their expectations; it is for us to give them those candidates upon whom their hearts have centered, and to give them clear, straightforward, emphatic expression of our political faith. The Republican party is a party of convictions; and it has written its convictions in the history of the Republic.with the pen and the sword; with it the supreme question always has been not what is merely "politics," but what is everlastingly "right." The great men we have given to the Nation and to history, the mighty dead and the illustrious living, are our inspiration and tower of strength. If we are but true to their exalted example, we cannot be false to our countrymen. For a third of a century prior to the advent of the present Demopublican Sway. cratic Administration, we operated under laws enacted by the Republican party. All great measures concerning the tariff and the currency originated with it. Tariff laws were formed upon lines which protected our laborers and producers from unequal and unjust foreign competition, and upon the theory that the best market in the world is the home market and that it should be enjoyed by our own countrymen. Under the currency laws our currency was made national. The wild-cat State bank money of the Democratic party was wiped out of existence. The unprecedented demands growing out of the war were met by a paper currency which ultimately became as good as gold. Since the resumption of specie payment in 1879 every dollar of our money, paper, silver and gold, has been of equal purchasing power the world over. The policy of the party has been to make and keep our currency equal to the best in the world. Republican Financial Management. der Republican Rule. Under the operation of these honest tariff and honest money Repub- Prosperity Unlican laws the country grew in wealth and power beyond precedent. We easily outstripped all other Powers in the commercial race. On November 8, 1892, there was work for every hand and bread for every mouth. We reached high-water mark. Labor received higher wages than ever, and capital was profitably and securely employed. The national revenues were sufficient to meet our obligations and leave a surplus in the Treasury. Foreign and domestic trade were greater in volume and value than they had ever been. Foreign balances were largely in our favor. European gold was flowing toward us. But all of this is changed. The cause is not hard to seek. A reaction began when it was known that the legislative and executive branches of the Government were to be Democratic. Democratic Tariff. The Democratic party had at Chicago condemned the protective tariff principle as unconstitutional, and solemnly pledged itself to the overthrow Attacks on the and destruction of the McKinley law and to the adoption of free trade as the policy of the United States. This bold, aggressive attack upon the long settled policy of the Republican party bore its natural fruit in shaken confidence and unsettled business, and we were soon drifting against the rock of destruction. Before the work of demolition was actually begun a run was started upon the Treasury reserve which the Republican party had wisely accumulated for the protection of the Government credit. The drain upon the reserve for the redemption of greenbacks and Treasury notes. greatly surpassed all prior experience and emphasized the discredit into which the Democratic Administration had fallen. An utter want of confidence in the Administration possessed the people. The Democratic party was harmonious upon one subject, and that was the destruction of the McKinley law. But when they came to the exercise of the creative faculty, the enactment of a great revenue measure in its stead, there was discord. The imperiled interests of the country. watched and waited through long and anxious months for some settlement of the important question. They wanted an end of uncertainty. "Runs" on the Treasury Reserve. The WilsonGorman Law of Perfidy and Dishonor." Reciprocity Struck Down. The Treasury Democratic At length the Wilson bill was adopted, and it was characterized by a Democratic President as the child of "perfidy and dishonor," It was so bad that he would not contaminate his hand by signing it. A bill that is too base for Mr. Cleveland to approve is too base for the approval of the American people. This important law was wanting in the primary purpose of a revenue. measure, for it failed to provide adequate revenue to meet the requirements of the Government. The deficiency thus far amounts to some $150,000,000. The end is not yet, for the deficiency grows day by day. This leaves the Treasury and the public credit in constant peril. Our foreign credit is impaired and domestic capital feels insecure. The sectional favoritism of the Wilson law was one of its marked features. Its blow at sheep husbandry was an unpardonable offense. It was a flagrant wrong to the farmers of the United States. This great industry had developed and grown under Republican protective laws until it was one of our greatest. We are now sending abroad millions of dollars for wool which were paid to our farmers under the McKinley law. The bill struck down reciprocity, one of the highest achievements of American Statesmanship. No measure was ever enacted which more directly advanced the interests of the American farmers and manu facturers than reciprocity. With its destruction fell advantageous commercial agreements, under which their products were surely finding larger and profitable foreign markets, and without the surrender of their own. The substitution of ad valorem for specific duties has opened the way for systematic wholesale frauds upon the Treasury and producers. and employes of the country. By means of undervaluations, foreign goods pass through the custom houses without paying their just tribute to the Treasury of the United States. Thus we have lost millions of dollars in revenue, and the foreign producers have been enabled to unfairly possess our home markets. Neither time nor place will permit further reference to the unfortunate revenue legislation of the Democratic party, nor to the hurtful, demoralizing effect of it. Suffice it to say that it has been the great and original factor in breaking down confidence, progress, emptying the Treasury, causing continued deficits and enforced idleness among millions of willing workers. To meet the monthly deficits and protect our credit and save the Debt Making Government from protest the President has been forced to sell bonds; in other words, he has been obliged to mortgage the future in a time of peace to meet the current obligations of the Government. in Times of Peace. This is in sharp contrast with the Republican record. Our tariff laws not only raised revenue, but they protected our domestic industries; they impartially protected the farmer and manufacturer, both North and South. Not only that, but they also raised sufficient revenue to gradually reduce the public debt, and without imposing a grievous |