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DON'T UK DKCKI VKIl.
NO HOPE FOR FREE* SILVER IN
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
Twenty-One Oat of Twenty-Three State*
Docliirod for Free Silver in 1890 In
Democrat le Stute I’onventlouH* but
All Voted Afptlnat It In 1892.
(Missouri Worm.)
Let no one build up hope from the
recent • activity of the silver Democrats
that that party can or will give the
country a free coinage law. We want
our silver friends in the Democratic
party to look at the situation as it is.
You have been grievously disappointed
once. Almost a lifetime of labor has
been brought to naught by over-con
fldence in your party, Stand off for a
moment as a non-partisan and take a
look at your party, In 1880 the Demo
cratic party in the same states in
which Die silver Democrats are now so
active declared for the free coinage of
silver in language that admitted of no
double construction (except in 1111
nois, where the plank was not very
definite). Yet the goldhug Democrats
were sufficiently numerous 1n Congress
at the extra session two years ago to
not only prevent the passage of a free
silver bill, but to wipe out the last law
favorable to silver and readopt Hie de¬
monetizing act of 1873. Here are the
silver planks in th<* Democratic plat¬
forms of 1890. We get those planks
from the Now York World Almanac,
1891. It reports only twenty-three
state Democratic conventions adopting
money planks in 1890, and of these
twenty-one wero for the free coinage
ef silver.
Arkansas. We denounce as iniqui¬
tous tiie silver 1)111 as passed by the
present Republican House of Repre¬
sentatives, as an attempt to demoral¬
ize silver and to build up the fortunes
of tho favored few, and wo favor the
free and unrestricted coinage of sliver,
and an increased volume of currency,
restricted alone to the necessary de¬
mands of the country, which shall he
a legal tender for all debts, public and
private. We believe tho power to ls
sue and control (lie volume of currency
belongs alone to tho government and
that tills power should not be delegated
to or controlled by any other author¬
ity.
California. We fnvor tho free coin¬
age of silver, and demand that it be
made an unlimited legal tender for all
purposes, public and private.
Colorado. We condemn tho present
administration for reckless and iin
necessary waste of public treasure, by
means of which the surplus fund accu¬
mulated under the wise and economic
administration of Grover Clevc'and l»ns
practically dijHpppeared, In place „.m
tfrtrirt rfe r Oft ,
deficiency arising from tho Increase of
expenditures over receipts for the pres¬
ent fiscal year. We demand the free
and unlimited coinage of silver.
Idaho.—-Wo tender our gratitude to
the Democrat^ in Congress for their
almost unanimous votes In both houses
for tho free and unlimited coinage of
silver, and congratulate the people of
our new state that there is one great
political organization in tho country
committed by its votes in Congress to
a measure so essential to tho prosper
ity of Idaho, The silver bill as en
acted by the Republican Congress is a
compromise in the interests of Wall
street, clothes the secretary of the
treasury with power to refuse to pur¬
chase bullion on the pretext that bul¬
lion is not offered at tho market price,
1 nd enables him to hear the silver mar¬
ket by refusing to purchase except at
his discretion and at such prices as he
may determine.
Illinois. Wo demand that all unnec
'SI ary restrictions bo removed from the
coinage of silver.
Indiana. Wo denounce tlit* silver
bill, so vailed, recently enacted, as an
ignominious surrender to the money
power. It perpetuates tho demoue
fixation of silver and the single gold
standard, whereas the interest of the
people requires the complete remone¬
tization of silver and its restoration to
perfect equality with gold in our eoln
age. We demand the free and unre¬
stricted coinage of silver upon the ba
sis existing prior to 1S73.
Iowa. We demand the free coinage
of silver and that it may be made a
legal tender for all debts, public and
private, and denounce as unjust and
dishonest the provision of the law re¬
cently enacted allowing parties to stip¬
ulate against payment in silver cer¬
tificates, thus setting one standard of
value for the creditor and one for the
debtor, one for the poor tivnn and the
other for the rich man.
Kansas, We favor the free coinage
of silver. We favor such change in
our fiscal laws as will leave the eon
trol of the circulating medium of the
country wholly In the hands of tho gov
eminent.
Michigan.—We believe in the free
and unlimited coinage of gold and sil
vor, unhampered by conditions as to
the legal tender qualities of either and
unhampered by the proviso suspending
coinage of silver after July 1 1891 We
cond
fuses th "Tizitz
>nlI ‘ ., iifv
Missouri. Wo are in favor of the
free'and unrestricted coinage of sllve,
3 the increase of currency to meet
W e legitimate demands of trade, and
we believe t at tlu? power to issue and
control th e Ydftun
should be assumed by the >verun at,
Nebraska.—We favor the placing of
'io silver dollar on its former footing
'X in in our inasre law. with
and
dent d dir hones t h
law recently enacted as discriarina-
tion in favor of the gold coin for the
benefit of the money power, and we fur¬
ther declare ourselves in favor of the
free coinage of silver.
Nevada.—We declare for the fr< <
and unlimited coinage of standard sil¬
ver dollars of the present weight and
fl neness t0 p 0 J ega ] tender for all
debts, public and jjrlvate, equally with
gold.
North Carolina.—The Democracy of
North Carolina favor the free coinage
of silver and an increase of the cur
r ency the repeal of the Internal
revenue system. • • * We de¬
mand the abolition of national hanks
ari, i the substitution of legal tender
treasury notes in lieu of national hank
notes, issued in sufficient volume to
do the business of the country on a
cash syatem, regulating the amount
needed on a jjer capita basis, as the
business interests of the country ex¬
pands, and that ail money Issued by
the government shall be legal tender
in payment of all debts, both public
and private.
Ohio. We favor the free coinage of
silver with its present ratio with gold.
Oregon. We reaffirm the position
which has ever been maintained by the
Democratic party, that gold and silver
arc equally the people’s money; we arw
opposed to all measures of discrimina¬
tion against silver, and demand free
coinage to supply the needs of busi¬
ness; and that all money Issued by
the government he made legal tender
for nil debts, both public and private.
South Carolina (Tillman faction) —
We demand the abolition of national
banks, urul that legal tender treasury
notes he Issued in sufficient volume to
do tiie business of the country on a
cash system, and that all money issued
l>y the government shall \X‘ legal ten¬
der in payment of all debts, both pub¬
lic and private. * * * (We fa¬
vor) the free; and unlimited coinage of
silver, the increase of the currency and
the repeal of the internal revenue sys¬
tem.
South Dakota.—That we are in favor
of the full remonetization of silver, the
free and unlimited coinage thereof and
the Issuance of coin certificates based
thereon which shall be a full legal ten¬
der.
Tennessee, Wo demand a currency
of gold and silver, and liiso of paper,
convertible into coin at the option of
the holder, and we demand tho free
coinage of silver on the basis originally
fixed by law. and that It and the geld
dollar shall be equally a unit of value.
Texas. We are opposed to tho con¬
tinuance of the national banking sys
tern and demand the abolishment
thereof us soon ns by law the same can
bo done. • • We are in favor of
the freo and unlimited coinage of sil
ver and endorse tho action of our sen¬
ators and representatives therefor
West Virginia.—That the Democrats
of West Virginia declare that they
are unal tcTa hly1» favor'of tho IreO «nd
unlimited coinage of silver.
Wyoming.—Wo demand the free
coinage of silver, and we denounce the
Republican party for tho enactment of
a law which makes It discretionary
with the secretary of the treasury to
demonetlze silver.
If Kin'll straight out declarations in
twenty-one state platforms only two
years before the last presidential elec
Hon resulted in tho demonetization of
silver by the party adopting them, what
ground is there for hope from the
Democratic party by reason of the
present activity of the silver Demo¬
crats? Even if the silver Democrats
controlled the next Democratic national
convention and secured the nomination
of a silver man for 1 ’resident and elect¬
ed hint, there would he enough gold
bug Democrats carried into Congress
by the Democratic victory to enable
the Republicans to defeat a free stiver
bill. The silver Democrats should
conic to the People's party. The silver
men must unite to obtain victory over
the gold power and they cannot unite
In the Democratic party; that is cer¬
tain, because Republican silver mrn
will not go to the Democrats, and Pop¬
ulists will not go to a party in which
they will have to sit on committees
with gold bugs, and which in one part
of the nation is electing man to neu¬
tralize the efforts of those it elects in
another part of the country. There Is
not a gold standard man In tho Peo
ple’s party. q'here is not a contrac
tionist in the People’s party, There
is not a tool of the money power in the
People’s party, Now, come with ns.
silver friends of the old parties, let us
have the benefit of your support and
you the benefit of our support. With
jour help we can drive the plutocrats do in
from power, This you cannot
your old party for reasons above set
forth. We wish you could. We care
nothing for party, nor for name.
A V TMraty IUig.
A young Wlssahickon man, so the
tale goes. owned a dog of mongrel
breed, which had added to Us one great
undesirable quality of low birth the
more offensive one of the manfee. The
i young man determined to sever his eon
j nections with tho animal, and with
that end in view he secured a large
i wash tub and put staples in tho inside
of it. with ropes attached to them, to
r™ ;rs;
n,.marine ' to slake his thirst at the
hvdrant. when its master grabbed it
and tied t lown in the tub. Then he
j ou , h0 wa tcr, and let It run un
til the dog's head was totally sub
t mergeu He couldn't bear to see the
pe r brute suffer, so he went away fo;
1 quarter of an hour. He came back
x pec ting to find the dog dead. Strang,
to say '.KVftVver. the dqg was very
,
' much alive. Thore was no water
the tub. NeR unr! there any Ink
in it. The dx>g had simply quenchcJ a.?
thirst. —Philadelphia Record.
IN UNCLE SAM’S PARK.
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Grover the I. (to the K°od-lookers on the end of the bench) Keep away from me, you nasty,
radical, forward things: I won’t hgve anything to do with your cheap silver proposition.
Old Gals on the other end—"Dot’s ride. Grofer dear; dey vas not gonservatlve und sound I k— us
girls vas. Our gold talks.”
(That’s right, the old pelicans seem to have scooped him in. Ed. Denver Road.
A LL FOJl FREE SILVER
THAT IS THE THREE POLITICAL
PARTIES.
Hut the ToimllHt* 1’iirty Stand* on It*
ItfM-nrd—F ilIho Pledge* of Republican*
und Democrat* Will Not Do Taken
Again.
The Memphis free silver blow-out
(ms come and gone, and unless the As
Boeiated Press dispatches lie, nothing
has been demonstrated, except that we
have throe parties in this country that
favor the free coinage of silver, but
no two of them can agree to vote to
gether for what they want unless one of
the parties will surrender its organiza
-ton.
Tho treacherous old Democracy, of
course, is taking tho lead now in howl
lng for silver, and if the people
tho gaiig again they will 6e
Just os the greenback movement was
betrayed.
Some Populists attended the Mem¬
phis meeting, possibly to see just what
was on foot, but the man who permits
himself to believe the Southern De¬
mocracy is any more sincere in the freo
silver movement they have inaugu¬
rated this year than usual, will awake
to find himself cheated again.
With all their pretended indignation
over “the crime of ’73,” no national
Democratic platform has ever con¬
demned that crime. On the contrary,
every national Democratic convention
that has assembled since that date, has
given the country a platitude or a
straddle on the money question and
nominated a gold bug as its candidate
for President.
Promises from the stump are always
profuse in a campaign, but the per¬
formance never fails to be short.
In 1891, when the sub-treasury can¬
vass was being made in this State, the
old set-fasts, badly frightened, assem¬
bled In convention at Jackson and
promised adherence to the doctrine of
free silver, but they tvere then in fa¬
vor of the abolition of national banks
aud government issue of paper money.
Here is what they said at that time;
“We believe that gold and silver
should be coined upon the same terms
and conditions, and that when the
government ceases to discriminate be¬
tween them, they will freely circulate
side by side and be equally useful and
acceptable to the people. We also be¬
lieve that there should be an addition¬
al issue of treasury notes interchange¬
able with coin, sufficient to transact
the business of the country, and to re¬
lieve the present financial depression.”
They were successful In that cam¬
paign, and the g. o. c. was re-elected to
the United States Senate. In 1892 an¬
other Democratic convention assem¬
bled at Jackson, and when the platform
committee were discussing the fin-un¬
cial plank, the declaration of the con¬
vention one year before was offered for
adoption and voted down. A “misera¬
ble makeshift” was inserted in the
State platform of 1892, and the author
of the financial plank of 1S91 (T. C.
Catchlngs) becomes a gold bug cuckoo
in 1S93, and votes straight for the re¬
peal of the only law on the statute
books favoring the white metal.
As a further illustration of the total
t&xz ssxzzzrsi
St«e. But after the election is over
and the commissions are secured it de
velaps that three of that six have fal
silled their pledges to the people and
gone over to the worshipers of Mam
mon.
For sixty years the Democracy has
made the tariff question an issue, and
they never touched it without making
matters worse than before. For twenty
years the restitution of silver to the po
sition it held prior to “the crime of
'73." in which Thomas F. Bayard par
ticipaied side by side with John Sher-
man, has occupied much of the time
of the average Southern mugwump pol¬
itician and promises thick and fast
hlive been made by these gentry just
preceding every election. With all the
labor they have been able to put forth
in support of their profuse pledges they
have worked the party up to the point
that 101 out of 227 Democratic members
in Congress did not vote for free sil¬
ver. Now the question is: “If the party
Has always been in favor of the equal
use 0 f bot t, go ld and silver as a money
me tai, and the coinage of each with
out discrimination against either and
without charge for mintage,” as Col.
Money, Mr. McLauren, Gov. Dowry and
yt^rg insist it is, and they can’t get
quite ha i f tbe j r representatives to vote
qr f roe coinage in twenty years, how
!ong W0ll id it be if a 16 to 1 plank was
inserted in the platform before the fre
a0 cracy would give the country free
(Okalona, Miss.) Mes
mA,
NOTES AND COMMENT.
We are not of the number who be¬
lieve that no good will come from the
Democrats holding free silver conven¬
tions thi3 year. While we realize that
the principal object in holding them Is
to stop the disintegration of the party,
we rather think that it will have tho
opposite effect in the outcome. There
is a certain amount of education going
along with this movement that will re¬
sult in good, Resolutions favoring
free silver this year may be the means
of many voters leaving the party next
year when a gold standard plank is
adopted, and a so-called sound cur¬
rency candidate nominated.
While we recognize that the free sil¬
ver discussion is breeding dissension
in the two old parties, and for that
reason it ought to be encouraged, we
insist that there is danger in commit¬
ting ourselves to that alone, to the ex¬
clusion of more important phases of the
money question, and of other questions.
We predict that the silver question is
to take the place of the tariff question
for the purposes of keeping the people
divided. It is to he discussed, but not
settled, is the programme of the two
old parties. What the Populists should
do is to show that both old parties de¬
monetized silver, and that there is no
possible show for either old party to re¬
store it. Keep the record of the two
old parties on this question constantly
the people.
The most important question now be¬
fore the people is, who shall issue the
money, the banks or the people? Who¬
ever Issues the money controls prices,
and the business of the country, As
the power to issue money was denied
even the States, the inference is that
the framers of the Constitution never
intended that it should over be delegat¬
ed to corporations. The control which
the banks have had over the money
has Invested them with the power to
cause a stringency whenever they saw
fit, and they are responsible for every
panic we ever had. The legitimate
business of a bank is for purposes of
exchange, deposit and discount, and
the power to make money plenty or
scarce at will by the issue of their own
notes should be forever prohibited.
The People’s party is the only party
, ,
™«»sr ^
publican or Democratic ticket. They
put their lives in the scale for the pres
ervatton of he t mon. They took the r
pay in a dollar that was purposely de
preciated at the suggestion and de
mands of the capitalists. The capital
called it a dishonest dollar. But he
speculated, got all of them he could and
traded them for bonds, dollar for dol
lar. If that dollar was dishonest,
then the bond also is dishonest. He
was entitled to no better dollar for the
bond than he gave for it. But he de
manded a better dollar and got it—one
that would buy twice as much of all
the necessities of life as the dollar he
gave for the bond. And now he is de¬
manding a better dollar still, which
the two old parties have given him.
The soldier took the greenbacks and
did not grumble, The difference in
the value of coin and greenbacks was
made up to the rich man, who stayed
at home and gambled and speculated,
but not to the soldier, who risked his
life and fought and bled for his coun¬
try.
* * *
In his speech at Memphis, Mr. Sib¬
ley said;
“Suppose the news should reach
Memphis that New York was belea¬
guered by the British. The Democrats
would hold a mass-meeting and de¬
termine that if the party was not strong
enough to drive out the intruders they
would wait until they were able to
make the attempt. The Republicans
would hold a mass-meeting and con¬
clude that the British ought to be driv¬
en out by the Republican party without
leaving party lines. The Populists
would get together and declare that if
they could take all the planks of the
Omaha platform along with them they
would drive the representatives of John
Bull from the shores of America. Is
this what the parties would do? Or
would they drop ‘party,’ and, turning
patriot, unite in saving the country?”
This looks like a plausible illustra¬
tion, but we would suggest to Mr. Sib¬
ley that it will take about “all the
planks of the Omaha platform” to drive
the British out of this country, a fact
which shows the wisdom of the Popu¬
lists for wanting to take them with
them.
RothcMlil Agents
In one respect we are glad to see this
activity in the right direction on the
silver question, on the part of western
and southern democrats, hut when we
figure out that it is only another
scheme to fool the people we con¬
clude that it is a bad thing after all.
While these men are all sincere in their
views on the question, for all know
they’re right, yet their efforts as a rule
are not to save silver, not to benefit
the country, not for love of truth, home
and country, but merely to save tlielr
party. Did not the chairman of the Il¬
linois conference say openly that the
agitation was to head off the nonparti¬
san and Populist movements that were
about to take many of their best demo¬
crats, and to solidify and harmonize the
party? Did not Chairman Stuart of the
Iowa conference say practically the
same thing? They know that the
democratic party will never, can never
do anything in the interest of the
masses, becaused it 13 owned, body and
soul, and breeches by the classes. But
they want to preserve it for the offices
it may give them. They bluster and
blow about the rights of the people and
condemn the encroachments of monop¬
oly. yet they are the most active tools
in trying to destroy the rights of the
masses and in perpetuating the rule of
plutocracy. They are wolves in sheep's
clothing. Almost everyone of them
will, when the national party adopts a
straddle platform , knuckle down to
their mess of crow and swallow the
whole goldbug gag. No intelligent man
can honestly hope to effect any reform
silver numDug. rne om parties are tne
people and ^^mberl^rT^In ts are
agents. Don t let them fool you. Farm
I ers Tribune.
I
I We can never have honest govern
ment in this country until one or the
other of the two old parties is annhil
ated. and the honest voters act to
gether. not only to defeat Shylock and
all classes of monopolists, but to give
the people genuine measures of re
lief.
4 PER CENT LOANS.
THE SOUTH NOW FLOODED
WITH CHEAP MONEY.
A Rose of the Goldbug*—They Tend
Money to Our Danker*, Who In Turn
Lend It Out at Dig Interest—The
Plan.
People’s Party Paper: The news
comes from New York that $7,000,000
or $ 8 , 000,000 have been loaned to the
banks in South Carolina, Georgia and
Alabama since May 1st at tho low rate
of 4 per cent. This money Is shipped
down here to make the dear people be¬
lieve that prosperity has resumed busi¬
ness at the old stand and that a con¬
tracted currency is a delusion and a
snare. The banks that are borrowing
the money propose to turn it loose in
the south. By a preconcerted arrange¬
ment, however, it will drift into the
hands of country merchants at 8 per
cent, who will in turn let the farmers
have it in the way of plantation sup¬
plies at the rate of 15 to 20 per cent
interest. Of course, the promoters of
President Cleveland’s financial scheme
are behind this movement. It is a ruse
on the part of the bankers to establish
the idea that money is plentiful and a
change from the present financial sys¬
tem unnecessary. It will be observed,
however, that the bankers and mer¬
chants are the only ones that secure a
clean-cut profit, while the farmers, who
are the real endorsers for the loan, have
all of the burdens to bear and as usual
reap none of the benefits. The New
York correspondent who called atten¬
tion to this influx of cheap money goes
into details which are very interesting.
He says:
“There have been a large number
of bankers visiting New York from
the states of South Carolina, Georgia
and Alabama since May 1st, at differ¬
ent times. Probably other southern
states had as many, but most of the
men I am acquainted with are from
the states named, and they are here
for the purpose of arranging, whether
preconcerted or not, to get currency
to carry to their respective state. I
am informed by one of the intelligent
men above named that they have se¬
cured loans from bankers in this city
since the 1st of May amounting to
$7,000,000 or $8,000,000. They get it
for 4 per cent until the 1st of October,
with the privilege of renewing at that
time on 30, 60 and 90 days at the same
rate of interest. In conversation with
one of these bankers to-day, he in¬
formed me that it would make times
better in the south when this money
was turned loose.
“ ‘How do you propose to turn it
loose? ’ I Inquired.
“ ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘we can turn four
times that amount loose in our states
at a good rate of interest. Wo will
lend this money, due say October 1st,
at 8 to 12% per cent per annum, which
you see will be quite a nice profit for
us on the amount loaned.’
“ ‘But can you,’ I asked, ‘make these
loans on good security?’
“ ‘Just as good as anybody would
wish. In the first place a great deal
of this money will be loaned to mer¬
chants who sell what is known in our
section of the country as time goods
to farmers. These merchants will
pay us, say 8 per cent. Then they will
sell goods due in October to planters
and farmers and get 15 or 20 per cent
for the supplies.’
“ ‘Then you think this process will
make good times?’
“ ‘Well,’ he said, ‘it will give the
people what they want—that is,
money.’
“ 'But can they make any money
by paying this high rate of inter¬
est?’
“ ‘Of course the merchants will.
They pay 8 per cent for it and if they
sell to the farmers goods on time,
the farmers will have to pay a very
high rate of interest, it is true, but
they can not make a crop without
something to make it with, and while
the interest these farmers have to pay
is pretty high, it is not as much as
they have paid in the past and we will
have no trouble in disposing of this
money, as I tell you.’
“This is the programme that is be¬
ing worked to relieve the pressure in
the south. It may bring about tem¬
porary prosperity, but in the end,
when the day of settlement comes, I
think the farmers will be left pretty
much in the condition they were in
before they borrowed the money;
many of them probably in a worse
fix.”
A man may be theoretically a free
silver man, and be in the Republican
or Democratic party, but he falls far
short of being a practical friend of that
issue. If we are to judge by the plat¬
forms and votes of the two old parties
—and that is the only fair test—both
old parties favor the single gold stan¬
dard. Since 1*73, every President and
Secretary of the Treasury of both old
parties has favored the single gold
standard. There is only one absolutely
free silver party, If all those who
claim they are for free silver, but who
are still remaining in the gold stan
dar parties, would join the Populist
party, free silver candidates could be
elected from President to Constable. It
is the only way that free silver can
ever win. The talk of another party is
silly. There are enough parties al
ready. There are only two sides to the
question. The two old parties occupy
one side—the same side—and the Peo
pie’s party the other side, What we
need is for every man to align himself
with a party that represents his prin
j eiples—yet out of the party that antag
onizes him. When they do this, there
will be no trouble about winning the
battle for silver.
