716 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



common defense, promote the general welfare, and 

 injure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our 

 pu-terity,' as the Constitution provides, the li ,uor 

 traffic must neither be sanctioned nor tolerated, 

 and that the revenue policy, which makes our 

 <.. \ eminent a partner with distillers and brewers 

 and barkeepers, is a disgrace to our civilization, 

 an outrage upon humanity, and a crime against 

 (Jod. We condemn the present administration at 

 Washington because it has repealed the prohib- 

 itory law in Alaska, and has given over the 

 partly civilized tribes there to be the prey of the 

 .\merican grogshop, and because it has entered 

 upon a license policy in our new possessions by 

 incorporating the same in the revenue act of Con- 

 gress in the code of laws for the government of the 

 Hawaiian I -lands. We call general attention to the 

 (a i ful fact that exportation of liquors from the 

 I Hi ted States to the Philippine Islands increased 

 from $337 in 1898 to $407,198 in the first ten 

 month* of the fiscal year ended June 30, 1900; and 

 that while our exportations of liquor to Cuba 

 never reached $30,000 a year previous to Ameri- 

 can occupation of that island, our exports of such 

 liquors to Cuba during the fiscal year of 1899 

 reached Uie sum of $629,655." 



The Democratic party assembled on July 4 in 

 rational convention at Kansas City, Mo., and on 

 .Inly 5 nominated William Jennings Bryan, of 

 Nebraska, for President, by acclamation. Adlai 

 K. Stevenson, of Illinois, was nominated for Viee- 

 I 'resident by 559 J votes to 200 for David B. Hill, 

 nt New York. 89i for C. A. Towne, of Minnesota, 

 and 87, all but 2 of them, divided between A. W. 

 Patrick, of Ohio, Julian S. Carr, of North Caro- 

 lina, and John Walter Smith, of Maryland, who 

 received the ballots of their State delegations. 

 The platform adopted on the same day was as 

 follows: 



" We, the representatives of the Democratic 

 party of the United States, assembled in conven- 

 tion 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 Consti- 

 tution framed in harmony therewith by the 

 fathers of the republic. We hold with the United 

 States Supreme Court that the Declaration of In- 

 dependence is the spirit of our Government, of 

 which the Constitution is the form and letter. 



" We declare again that all governments insti- 

 tuted 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 de- 

 nounce the doctrine that an Executive or Con- 

 CMM| deriving their existence and their powers 

 from the Constitution, can exercise lawful au- 

 thority beyond it, for 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 

 !'< rto Rico law. enacted by a Republican Con- 

 greu ay:iin>t the protest and opposition of the 

 Democratic minority, as a bold and open viola- 

 tion of the nation's organic law and a flagrant 

 breach of the national good faith. It impo-cs 

 upon the people of Porto Rico a government with- 

 out their consent and taxation without represen- 

 tation. It dishonor* the American people by re- 

 pudiating a solemn pledge made in their behalf by 

 the commanding general of our army, which the 



Porto Ricans welcomed to a peaceful and unre- 

 al >ted occupation of their land. It doomed to 

 poverty and distress a people whose helplessness 

 appeals with peculiar force to our justice and 

 magnanimity. In this, the first act of its impe- 

 rialistic 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 de- 

 cisions. We demand the prompt and honest ful- 

 fillment 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 govern- 

 ment of the island from its people, while Repub- 

 lican 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 involved the republic in unnecessary war. 

 sacrificed the lives of many of our noblest sons, 

 and placed the United States, previously known 

 and applauded throughout the world as the 

 champion of freedom, in the false and un-Ameri- 

 can position of crushing with military force the 

 efforts of our former allies to achieve liberty and 

 self-government. The Filipinos can not be citi- 

 zens without endangering our civilization; they 

 can not be subjects without imperiling our form 

 of government, and as we are not willing to sur- 

 render 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, inde- 

 pendence; and third, protection from outside in- 

 terference, such as has been given for nearly a 

 century to the republics of Central and South 

 America. The greedy commercialism which di 

 tated the Philippine policy of the Republican ad- 

 ministration attempts to justify it with the plea 

 that it will pay, but even this sordid and un- 

 worthy plea fails when brought to the test o:~ 

 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 Philip- 

 pine 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 desirabl 

 territory which can be erected into States in th 

 Union, and whose people are willing and fit to be- 

 come American citizens. We favor 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 Con- 

 stitution, and whose people can never become citi- 

 zens. We are in favor of extending the republic's 

 influence among the nations, but believe that in- 

 fluence should be extended not by force and vio- 

 lence, but through the persuasive power of a hisrh 

 and honorable example. The importance of other 

 questions now pending before the American people 

 is in no wise 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 involves the very existence of 

 the republic and the destruction of our free in- 

 s( it nt ions. We regard it as the paramount issue 

 of the campaign. The declaration in the Repub- 

 lican platform adopted at the Philadelphia con- 

 vention, held in June. 1900. that the Republican 

 party 'steadfastly adheres to the policy an- 

 nounced in the Monroe doctrine,' is manifestly 



