COMPARE THESE PLATFORMS!
Compare These Platforms! The "LaFollette Platform" is Progrenive; the "G. 0. P. Platform" Reactionary The "La Follette Platform" {It' jcct<:<i Vy the RepvMiccn Bosses in 1910 as in 1008 and...
...We believe that those who have directly profited by the European war should contribute a portion of such profits to pay the increased expenses of our government caused by expansion of our military program...
...and that an adequate International Army and Navy be maintained under the command of $vcb Tribunal to enforce its decrees...
...RURAL FREE DELIVERY WE FAVOR the extension of the rural free delivery system and condemn the Democratic administration for curtailing and crippling it...
...LEGISLATION AND PUBLICITY WE PLEDGE the enactment of a law requiring all congressional committee hearings to be public, and providing for a permanent public record of all appearances and votes at committee meetings and for the Strictest regulation of the acts of all persons employed for pecuniary consideration to oppose or promote legislation...
...The Underwood tariff act is a complete failure in every respect...
...We pledge ourselves against .''Dollar Diplomacy" and the identification of the government with the claims of concession seekers, financiers and privileged interests operating in weaker countries...
...As it stood for the union of states, it now stands for an united people, true to American ideals, loyal to American traditions, knowing no allegiance except to the Constitution, to the government and to the flag of the United States...
...the enactment and rigid enforcement of a federal child labor law...
...INITIATIVE, REFERENDUM AND RECALL OVER and above constitutions and statutes, and greater than all, is the supreme sovereignty of the people...
...We call on all Americans to be true to the spirit of America, to the great traditions of their common country, and above all things to keep the faith...
...National defense should involve equal sacrifice and there should be no private profit from war or preparation for war...
...We favor the collection and collation under the direction of the Department of Labor of complete data relating to industrial hazards for the information of Congress, to the end that such legislation may be adopted as may be calculated to secure the safety, conservation and protection of labors from the dangers incident to industry and transportation...
...GOVERNMENT MANUFACTURE OP MUNITIONS WE FAVOR a comprehensive survey by the government of the industries, transportation and other resources of the United States and such organization thereof in times of peace, that in time of war, every resource of the country shall be available immediately for the needs of the government...
...The welfare of our people demands its repeal and the substitution of a measure which, in peace as well as in war, will produce ample revenue aud give reasonable protection to all forms of American production in mine, forest, field and factory...
...IN 1861, the Republican party stood for the Union...
...FOREIGN RELATIONS WE DESIRE peace, the peace of justice and right, and believe la maintaining a straight...
...We favor vocational education...
...But prosecution is very different from persecution, and business success no matter how honestly attained, is apparently regarded by the Democratic party as in itself a crime...
...We favor such amendments to the federal constitution, and thereupon the enactment of such statutes as may be necessary to extend the initiative, the referendum and the recall to representatives in Congress and United States senators...
...REFERENDUM ON WAR WE FAVOR a law providing for a popular expression of opinion by ta« voters for or against war with any foreign government with which the President snail have severed diplomatic relations...
...Such doctrines and beliefs choke enterprise and stifle prosperity...
...CONFERENCE OF NEUTRAL NATIONS FOR PEACE WE FAVOR a conference of neutral nations with a view to a permanent organization to promote peace, prevent wars and aid in the settlement of international questions and the adjustment of differences between nations at war...
...Such protection should be reasonable in amount but sufficient to protect adequately American industry and American labor and be so adjusted as to prevent undue exactions by monopolies or trusts...
...STRICT NEUTURALITY WE INSIST that this country shall maintain strict neutrality toward nations engaged in war, thus preserving friendly relations with all belligerents and keeping open the door of opportunity to service in promoting just terms of peace...
...Such are our principles, such are our purposes and policies...
...We reiterate our unqualified approval of the action taken in December, 1911, by the President and Congress to secure with Russia, as with other countries, a treaty that will recognize the absolute right of expatriation and prevent all discrimination of whatever kind between American citizens, whether native born or alien, and regardless of race, religion or previous political allegiance...
...To secure these results we have have a coherent and continuous policy of national defense, which even in these perilous days the Democratic party hag utterly failed to develop, but which we promise to give to the country...
...These interests have formed monster combinations in every important industry, controlling production and prices and creating a vast surplus wealth...
...NAVAL SUPPLIES WE PLEDGE ourselves to the acquisition and operation by the government of coal mines and oil wells upon the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts and in Alaska for the supply of the Navy and other governmental departments with fuel and oil...
...We therefore favor paying for such increased expenditures by increasing the sur-tax upon incomes, levying a tax upon all manufacturers of munitions of war, and a graduated Federal Inheritance Tax with reasonable exemptions...
...It has put its creed into its deeds, and all really effective laws regulating the railroads and the great industrial corporations are the work of Republican congresses and Presidents...
...TERRITORIAL OFFICIALS REAFFIRMING the attitude long maintained by the Republican party, we hold that officials appointed to administer the government of any territory should be bona fide residents of the territory in which their duties are to be performed...
...CIVIL SERVICE REFORM THE civil service law has always been sustained by the Republican party, and we renew our repeated declaration that it shall be thoroughly and honestly enforced and extended wherever practicable...
...The entire transportation system of the country has become essentially national...
...The present administration has destroyed our influences abroad and humiliated ua jn our own eyes...
...We, therefore, favor such action by legislation, or if necessary, through an amendment to the Constitution of the United States which will result in placing it under exclusive federal control...
...We pledge the enactment of a patent law which will protect the inventor as well as the...
...TARIFF WE FAVOR a protective tariff the schedule of which shall be based upon :he ascertained difference in the labor in this country and abroad and which shall be so adjusted as to assure its benefit to labor and yet not tax the consumer to cover inefficient management nor place a premium on the exhaustion of our national resources...
...SHIP SUBSIDIES WE ARE unequivocally opposed to ship subsidies...
...To leave with our task half done would break our pledges, injure our prestige among nations and imperil what has already been accomplished...
...We pledge our aid in restoring order and maintaining peace in Mexico...
...The Republican party firmly believes that all who violate the laws in regulation of business should be individually punished...
...0. P. Platform" Reactionary The "La Follette Platform" {It' jcct<:<i Vy the RepvMiccn Bosses in 1910 as in 1008 and 1912...
...We are utterly opposed to the government ownership of vessels as proposed by the Democratic party, because government owned ships, while effectively preventing the development of the American merchant marine by private capital, will be entirely unable to provide for the vast volume of American freights and will leave us more helpless than ever in the har$ grip ef foreign syndicates...
...The "G...
...We believe the American merchant marine can be builded upon a stable basis by equalizing the costs of building and the costs of operation...
...W» belieye t&at peace ana neutrality as weu a? the dignity and influence of the United States cannot be preserved by shifty expedients, by phrase making, by performances in language, or by attitudes ever changing in an effort to secure groups of ¦Voters...
...The Republican party believes in encouraging American business as it believes in and will seek to advance all American interests...
...We believe in American politics at home and abroad...
...For this policy of regulation and supervision, the Democrats, in a stumbling, piecemeal way, are undertaking to involve the government in husiness which should he left within the sphere of private enterprise and in direct competition with its own citizens, a policy which is sure to result in waste, great expense to the taxpayer and in an inferior product...
...BUSINESS THE Republican party has long believed in the rigid supervision and strict regulation of the transportation and great corporations of the country...
...The Republican party believes that a firm, consistent and courageous foreign policy, always maintained by Republican President* in accordance with American Traditions, is the best, as it is the only true way to preserve our peace and restore us to our rightful place among the nations...
...We must perform all our duties and insist on all our rights as neutrals without fear and without faror...
...SUFFRAGE THE Republican party, reaffirming its faith in government of the people, by the peoplee for the people, as a measure of justice to one-half the adult people of this country, favors the extension of the suffrage to Women, but recognizes the right of each state to settle this question for itself...
...We denounce the indefensible methods of interference employed by this administration in the internal affairs of Mexico and refer with shame to its failure to discharge the duty of this country as next friend to Mexico, its duty to other powers who have relied upon us as such friend, and its duty to our citizens in Mexico, in permitting the continuance of such conditions, first, by failure to act promptly and firmly, and second, by lending its influence to the continuation of such conditions through recognition of one of the factions responsible for these outrages...
...The nation best commands an adequate defense that most efficiently safeguards against exploitation and most adequately provides for the material and physical well-being of its citizens...
...PROTECTION OF AMERICAN RIGHTS WE DECLARE that we believe in and will enforce the protection of every American citizen in all the rights secured to him by the Constitution, treaties, and the law of nations, at home and broad, by land and sea...
...We condemn the Democratic administration for its attempt to abandon the Philippines, which was prevented only by the vigorous opposition of Republican members of Congress, aided by a few patriotic Democrats...
...We must have a navy so strong and so well proportioned and equipped, *o thoroughly ready and prepared, that no enemy can gain command of the sea and effect a landing in force on either our western or our eastern coast...
...The great issues of the day have been confused by words and phrases...
...These rights, which in violation of the specific promise of their party made at Baltimore in 1912, the Democratic President and the Democratic Congress have failed to defend, we will unflinchingly maintain...
...MERCHANT MARINE IN VIEW of the policies adopted by all the maritime nations to encourage the shipping interests and in order to enable us to compete with them for the ocean-carrying trade, we favor the payment to ships engaged in the foreign trade of liberal compensation for services actually rendered in carrying the mails, and such further legislation as will build up an adequate American merchant marine, and give us ships which may be requisitioned by the government in time of national emergency...
...We express our horror and indignation at the outrages which have been and are being perpetrated by these bandits upon American men and women ¦who were or are in Mexico by invitation of the laws and of the government ©f that country, and whose rights to security of person and property are guaranteed by solemn treaty obligations...
...Under the normal conditions which prevailed prior to the war, it was clearly demonstrated that this act deprived the American producer and the American wage earner of that protection which entitled (hem to meet their foreign competitors, and but for the adventitious conditions created by the war, would have long since-have paralyzed all forms of American industry and deprived American labor of its just reward...
...These same interests own the munition plants which fatten off the great government contracts to supply the big army and build the big navy maintained by taxing our peffple...
...Government manufacture of munitions, by eliminating private profit, does away with the desire for war...
...We insist upon the proper enforcement of that act and demand legislation to equalize the cost of ship construction...
...WOMAN'S SUFFRAGE ^^E FAVOR thr extension of suffrage to Women...
...Back of this foreign policy lies in large part the demand for a big army and a big navy to enforce the collection of the private claims and protect the concessions and investments of these interests...
...We pledge to so amend our neutrality laws as to make it the duty of the President, by Executive order, to preserve the perfect balance of our neutrality even, at the sacrifice of profits to the money power and the manufacturers of arms and ammunition...
...ECONOMY AND A NATIONAL BUDGET THE increasing cost of the national government and the need for tho greatest economy of its resources in order tp meet the growing demands, of the people for government service call for the severest condemnation of the wasteful appropriations of this Democratic' administration, of its shameless raids on the treasury and of its opposition to and rejection of President Taft's oft repeated proposals and earnest efforts to secure economy and efficiency through the establishment of a simple businesslike budget system to which we pledge our support and which we hold to he necessary to effect any real reform in the administration of national finances/, CONSERVATION WE BELIEVE in a careful husbandry of all the natural resources of th« nation—a husbandry which means development without waste...
...We believe in the pacific settlement of international disputes and favor the establishment of a world court for that purpose...
...We favor laws, to assure the greatest possible safety to workmen from industrial accidents and vocational diseases, to provide compensation for occupational accidents and diseases, to facilitate and encourage safe provisions for dependents and for old age, to strictly regulate and control the employment of women and children, to secure the fullest inquiry and publicity with regard to living conditions and conditions of employment, to encourage the organization of workmen and farmers to co-operate in the distribution of products and the elimination of unnecessary expense, loss and waste and to promote their education, efficiency and general welfare...
...MEXICO WE DEEPLY sympathize with the 15,000,000 people of Mexico, who for three years have seen their country devastated, their homes destroyed, their fellow-citizens murdered and their women outraged, by armed bands of desperadoes led by self-seeking, conscienceless agitators who, when temporarily successful in any locality, have neither sought nor been able to restore order or establish and maintain peace...
...SOCIAL WELFARE AWELL NURTURED, well developed, loyal citizenship is essential to National defense...
...The investigation of these facts and the revision of these schedules should be made by a non-partisan tariff commission, subject to the action of Congress...
...The American spirit, which made the country and'saved the Union, has been forgotten by those charged with the responsibility of power...
...It has not in the least reduced the cost of living, which has constantly advanced from the date of its enactment...
...Whenever the initiative, referendum and the recall have been adopted by state governments, it has stimulated the interest of the citizen in his government and awakened a deeper sense of responsibility...
...0. P. Platform" (Adopted by the Republican Conven Hon, as framed and engineered through by the Old Guard Republicans...
...This excess capital which might otherwise be loaned at reduced interest rates to the people from whom it has been wrongfully exacted, has been Withdrawn from the country by the masters of finance and used to secure concessions in oil, coal, timber and mineral lands in Mexico, Central and South American Countries, and loaned in China and elsewhere at usurious rates and extortionate commissions, thus enabling these interests to control the natural resources of the weaker nations and exploit their helpless peoples...
...We appeal to all Americans, whether naturalized or native born, to prove to the world that we are Americans in thought and .in deed, with one loyalty, one hope, one aspiration...
...FOREIGN RELATIONS WE DENOUNCE the un-American and undemocratic secret diplomacy which continually threatens the honor, peace and security of our country, and we favor full and immediate publicity in all our relations with foreign governments...
...The Democratic party has created, since March 4, 3 913, 30,000 offices outside of the civil service law at an annual cost of $44,000,000 to the taxpayers of the country...
...PHILIPPINES WE RENEW our allegiance to the Philippine policy, inaugurated by Mc-Kinley, approved by Congress and consistently carried out by Roosevelt and Taft...
...We renew the pledge to observe this principle and to maintain the right of asylum which is neither to be surrendered nor restricted and we unite in the cherished hope that the war, which is now desolating the world, may speedily end with a complete and lasting restoration «f brotherhood among the nations of the earth and the assurance of full equal rights, civil and religious, to all men in every land...
...If it is wise to entrust the people with this power in state government, no one can challenge the extension of this power to the national government...
...LATIN AMERICA WE FAVOR the continuance of Republican policies, which will result in drawing more and more closely the commercial, financial and social relations between this country and the countries of Latin America...
...The tiroes are dangerous and the future is fraught with peri...
...We must have a sufficient and effective regular army, and a provision for ample reserves, already drilled and disciplined, who can be called at once to the colors when the hour of danger comes...
...We promise to our citizens on and near our border and to those in Mexico, ¦wherever they may be found, adequate and absolute protection in their lives, liberty and property...
...Even in this short time it has enormously improved the material and social conditions of the islands, given the Philippine people a constantly increasing participation in their government, and if persisted in, will bring still greater benefits in the future...
...The private manufacture of munitions of war furnishes a direct incentive to war...
...We favor the creation of a tariff commission with complete power to gather and compile information for the use of Congress in all matters relating to the tariff...
...We close as we began...
...Under ks administration imports have enormously increased in spite of the fact that intercourse with foreign countries has been largely cut off by reason of the war, while the revenues, of which We stand in such dire need, have been greatly reduced...
...In support of this system, in recent years there has been an attempt to establish and maintain a foreign policy of "Dollar Diplomacy" that would make our government the guarantor for the private investments of our prir-ileged interests in foreign countries...
...public, and which cannot be used against the public welfare in the interest of injurious monopolies...
...and honest neutrality between the belligerents in the great war in Europe...
...TARIFF THE Republican party stands now, as always, in the fullest sense for the policy of tariff protection to American industries and American labor and does not regard an anti-dumping provision as an adequate substitute...
...We pledge the government manufacture of all munitions and vessels of war in time of peace, and in time of war the requisition and operation by the government of privately owned plants so far as needed...
...We denounce this mercenary system of a degraded foreign policy which has at times reduced our State Department from its high service as a strong and kindly intermediary of defenseless governments into a trading outpost for those privileged interests and concession seekers engaged in exploiting weaker Rations...
...INTERNATIONAL PEACE TRIBUNAL TO COMPOSE the differences of nations and to maintain World peace, we favor the creation of an International Tribunal to which shall be referred for final settlement all issues between nations, and upon the establishment of such a Tribunal we favor action by our government toward general disarmament of the nations of the World...
...LABOR LAWS WE PLEDGE the Republican party to the faithful enforcement of all federal laws passed for the protection of labor...
...It should, moreover, give special attention to securing the industrial independence of the United States as in the case of dye stuffs...
...PATENTS INVENTIONS should be fully developed and utilized for the public benefit under reasonable regulation by the Federal Trade Commission...
...We accepted the responsibility of the islands as a duty to civilization and the Filipino people...
...We condemn the gross abuse and the misuse of the law by the present Democratic administration and pledge ourselves to a reorganization of this service along lines of efficiency and economy...
...MONROE DOCTRINE WE REAFFIRM our approval of the Monroe Doctrine, and declare its maintenance to be a policy of this country essential to its present and future peace and safety and to the achievement of its manifest destiny...
...the enactment of a generous and comprehensive workmen's compensation law, within the commerce power of Congress, and an accident compensation law covering all government employees...
...Through wise tariff and industrial legislation our industries can be so organized that they will become not only a commercial bulwark, but a powerful aid to national defense...
...use without abuse...
...DOLLAR DIPLOMACY THE natural resources of our country have been largely monopolized by privileged interests...
...We commend the enactment of the so-called Seamen's Law which gave freedom to seamen and equalized the labor costs of ship operation between vessels of the United States and foreign countries...
...TAXATION GREAT fortunes have been gained through the manufacture and sale of munitions of war to belligerent European countries...
...TRANSPORTATION INTERSTATE and intrastate transportation have become so interwoven that the attempt to apply two and often several sets of laws to its regulation has produced conflicts of authority, embarrassment in operation and inconvenience and expense to the public...
...Without such a body of citizens, physical resources are of little yahie...
...HEALTH WE FAVOR the strengthening of the various agencies of the government relating to pure foods, quarantine and health, and their union into a single I nited States Health Service not subordinated to any interest, commercial or financial, but devoted to co-operation with the health activities of the various states and cities of the nation, and to such efforts as are consistent with reasonable personal liberty, looking to the elimination of unnecessary disease and the lengthening of human life...
...PROTECTION OF THE COUNTRY IN ORDER to maintain our people and make certain the security of our . people within our own borders the country must have not only adequate but thorough and complete national defense, ready for any emergency...
Vol. 8 • June 1916 • No. 6
