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by the United States, and by the purchase of the Danish Islands we should secure a proper and much-needed naval station in the West Indies.

The massacres in Armenia have aroused the deep sympathy and just indignation of the American people, and we believe that the United States should exercise all the influence it can properly exert to bring these atrocities to an end. In Turkey American residents have been exposed to the gravest dangers, and American property destroyed. There and every where American citizens and American property must be absolutely protected at all hazards and at any cost.

THE MONROE DOCTRINE.

We reassert the Monroe Doctrine in its full extent, and we reaffirm the right of the United States to give the doctrine effect by responding to the appeals of any American State for intervention in case of European encroachment. We have not interfered and shall not interfere with the existing possessions of any European power in this hemisphere, but those possessions must not, on any pretext, be extended. We hopefully look forward to the eventual withdrawal of the European powers from this hemisphere, and to the ultimate union of all English-speaking parts of the continent by the free consent of its inhabitants.

SYMPATHY FOR CUBA.

From the hour of achieving their own independence the people of the United States have regarded with sympathy the struggle of other American peoples to free themselves from European domination. We watch with deep and abiding interest the heroic battle of the Cuban patriots against cruelty and oppression, and our best hopes go out for the full success of their determined contest for liberty. The Government of Spain, having lost control of Cuba, and being unable to protect the property or lives of resident American citizens, or to comply with its treaty obligations, we believe that the Government of the United

States should actually use its influence and good offices to restore peace and give independence to the island.

The peace and security of the Republic and the maintenance of its rightful influence among the nations of the earth demand a naval power commensurate with its position and responsibility. We, therefore, favor the continued enlargement of the navy and a complete system of harbor and sea cost defenses.

EDUCATIONAL TEST OF IMMIGRANTS.

For the protection of the quality of our American citizenship and of the wages of our workingmen against the fatal competition of low-priced labor, we demand that the immigration laws be thoroughly enforced, and so extended as to exclude from entrance to the United States those who can neither read nor write.

The civil service law was placed on the statute book by the Republican party, which has always sustained it, and we renew our repeated declarations that it shall be thoroughly and honestly enforced and extended wherever practicable.

We demand that every citizen of the United States shall be allowed to cast one free and unrestricted ballot, and, that such ballot shall be counted and returned as cast.

We proclaim our unqualified condemnation of the uncivilized and barbarous practice well known as lynching or killing of human beings suspected or charged with crime without process of law.

NATIONAL ARBITRATION BOARD.

We favor the creation of a national board of arbitration to settle and adjust differences which may arise between employers and employees engaged in interstate commerce.

We believe in an immediate return to the free homestead policy of the Republican party; and urge the passage by Congress of the satisfactory free homestead measure which has already passed the House and is now pend ing in the Senate.

We favor the admission of the remaining Territories at the earliest practical date, having due regard to the interests of the people of the Territories and of the United States. All the Federal officers appointed for the Territories should be elected from bona-fide residents thereof, and the right of self-government should be accorded as far as practicable.

We believe the citizens of Alaska should have representation in the Congress of the United States, to the end that needful legislation may be intelligently enacted.

We sympathize with all wise and legitimate efforts to lessen and prevent the evils of intemperance and promote morality.

RIGHTS OF WOMEN.

The Republican party is mindful of the rights and interests of women. Protection of American industries includes equal opportunities, equal pay for equal work, and protection to the home. We favor the admission of women to wider spheres of usefulness, and we welcome their cooperation in rescuing the country from Democratic and Populist mismanagement and misrule.

Such are the principles and policies of the Republican party. By these principles we will abide and these policies we will put into execution. We ask for them the consid erate judgment of the American people. Confident aliko in the history of our great party and in the justice of our cause, we present our platform and our candidates in the full assurance that the election will bring victory to the Republican party and prosperity to the people of the United States.

LIFE OF WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN.

BIRTH AND EDUCATION.

WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN, popularly known as the "Boy Orator of the Platte," was born in the town of Salem, Marion County, Illinois, March 19, 1860. His lineage is thoroughly Democratic. His father was Silas L. Bryan, who was born in Culpepper County, Va., at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. He came to Illinois when eighteen years of age, and settled finally at Salem. He was a graduate at McKendrie College, Lebanon, Ill., and began the practice of law. In 1852 he was elected State Senator, and served eight years. He was elected, in 1860, Circuit Judge, and served until 1872. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1870, and there introduced a resolution that all officers created by the constitution, should be elected by the people. In 1870 he was Democratic candidate for Congress, and was defeated by 240 votes, by James S. Martin. He was a strong man intellectually, and was a good public speaker. He died in 1880. He was married to Maria Elizabeth Jennings, at Salem, in 1852. They had nine children, of whom five are living. W. J. is the fourth. Mrs. Bryan died in Salem, in 1896.

The family residence was on a farm just outside of the town limits, and it was there that the son William passed his early youth, amid rural scenes and the arts of husbandry. His education began in the common schools of

the town, and to facilitate this, he came to spend much of his time within the reach of the schools, the rest being spent on the farm.

By the time he reached the age of fifteen years, he had completed his common school education, and, in the fall of 1875, he entered Whipple Academy, at Jacksonville, Illinois. After an academic course, extending over two years, he was prepared to enter Illinois College, at Jacksonville, which he did in 1877, matriculating in the Freshman Class. As a collegian, he proved to be an apt and earnest and assiduous student, and, early in his course, gave promise of those forensic powers which were to bring him speedy National distinction. In 1880, while a Senior, he won second prize as the representative of his college in the State collegiate oratorical contest at Galesburg.

He graduated from his college in 1881, with the highest honors of his class, and, by virtue of this rank, he became the class valedictorian. After leaving college, young Bryan went to Chicago, where he entered the Union Law College of that city. At the same time he entered the law office of Senator Lyman Trumbull, for the double purpose of assisting in his own education, and acquiring a knowledge of the practice of law along with its theories.

This course imposed upon him a double duty, but he had physical strength, mental ability and energy of purpose equal to even a harder task, and he ended his two years of law study with honors. He was now thoroughly equipped for his profession, and he entered upon it at Jacksonville, Ill., soon after his admission to the bar, in

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