Page:The Republican Party (1920).djvu/134



It would require a far more voluminous work than the present to give even a brief synopsis of the multitudinous acts of legislation and administration which the Republican party has performed for the good of the people through the national government, beside other volumes to tell of its achievements in and through the various state and local governments. The present work has been confined entirely to national affairs and has perforce mentioned, even briefly, only a few of those great principles, policies and specific acts which have indicated the general purpose of the party and have been the landmarks and mileposts of its progress.

We might have dwelt upon the reduction of postage rates, the establishment of the money order system, the development of the railway mail service and the free delivery system, which have made our postal service the best in the world; the artificial propagation and distribution of food fish; the free distribution of seeds and other measures for the promotion of agriculture; the international copyright law which has removed from the publishing trade the imputation of piracy, and which protects at once the property rights of authors and the business interests of American publishers; the national bankruptcy acts, which relieved thousands of unfortunate men of their burdens and enabled them to regain business prosperity; the Circuit Court of Appeals which has greatly expedited and facilitated legal processes; the pure food law and inspection