The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-07-15
AN ISSUE TO BE EVADRD---A SUG.
GEsTION TO DEMOCRATS.

AN ISSUE TO BE EVADRD---A sUG.
GEsTION TO DEMOCRATS.
We cannot help suggesting the necessity
for moderation among Democrats in the
discussion of Federal financial policy.
There are not so clearly two sides to the ar
gument as that there are two parties inter
ested differently in its practical solution.
1t is not difficult TO say that honesty is the
best policy, and that silver and gold repre-
sent plain sailing and, in the long run, con.
stitute the only currency which any mcm.
Der of the family Of nations can Icing rec
ognize. This is the unvarnished truth;
but the people of to-day have different In
terests from those of tomorrow. We are
living ON the ragged edge of q great cica-
trice slowly healing. We bear the crushing
weight OF woes which we would subdivlde
between ourselves and those who are to
come after US. Debtors, 1t happens, after
the terrible woes and losses by revolution,
outnumber creditors as ten to one, end
these debtors have peculiar interests.
They were the losers by war; the creditor
class OF to-day are they who were enriched
as men were neTer before SO enormously en-
riched by throes of revolution. The poor
Of to-day think that the rich of to-day
should share calamitics now endured by
the debtor class alone. These bore the
brunt OF battle, dug bitches, starved in
prisons and groaned in hospitals. The
creditor class that would convert bonds
and paper they gathered, while the poor
were thrUat-cutting, are merciless, and de-
mand from impoverished States anG corpo-
rations the instant equalization of their pa
per to gold. Our Southern securities, held
to-day in Wall street, did not cost the hold
ers an average of fifty cents on the dollar.
These must not only be paid in full, but in
gold. The contest, in its ultimate analysis,
is between the bondholder and the toiing
people, between creditor and debtor. That
the sympathies of the masses are with
the masses we cannot boubt, and De-
mocracy should beware. The New York
lI@.JI .-.-y ~ iS~s..a PutrIUJIC DuC not
polite. The discussion of this subject,
in reference to which concurrence is impos-
sible, because there is, just now, no con-
currence Of interest, should be pretermit-
ted. The World should be gagged and the
Cincinnati Enquirer straight, jackcted. Tex
US is peculiarly fortunate. The true inter
ests OF the whole people of Texas would
not be harmed by the instant adoption of
compulsory and universal specie payments.
The people owe less than those of any State,
and have more silver and gold. Texas can
abide the result with infinite equanimity,
whether the Pendleton- paper or New-York-
herd-pan theory be approved. Occupy
ing this attitude of sublime indiffer-
ence, Texas contemplates the war be-
tween the East and West with painful in
terest, and would gladly silence the bois-
ferrous champions Of paper and those of
gold. The unity Of the party is more desir-
able than the triumph of either Tilden or
Chandler, or of Billallen or Hendricks or
Cumberland Gap Morgan. II 1t be said that
the question cannot be pretermitted it
is because men love money more than
honest government. There are enough
questions, besides this Of finance, about
which we are agreed and in reference 10
which We differ toto eGio from Grantism.
We would expel base nepotism from the
throne and pampered placement from pro-
tracted power. All concur in approving
free trade, OF at least revenue as contra.
distinguished from protective tariff, and all
would destroy or reform the present bsak-
ing system, and then, too, the ''outs" would
be the Sins" There is breadth enough of
principle IN these issues, to say nothing of
the restoration of statehood and, pro tantO,
the disintcgration of the empire and the
substitution of the Union as 1t was for the
absolutism Of Grant and the Congress. May
not Democracy be content with these issues
and suffer that of the currency to be dis
posed Of by inevitable eventsR Those who
refuse are surely paid to refuse, and are
hired either by the debtor or creditor class
either by the bondholder or bondpaycr, and |
the people should repudiate both. II Is no |
new thing in partisanship, this snbordina-
ton Of tho less, to the greater interest; of |
she one, 10 many great questions. More
over, it is no new thing for the very leaders |
Of the same party to differ radically about
vital issues, and still cooperate. Greeley
and Bryant the Iria,Me aud EeeaiRg Post
were wide as the poles asunder when the tar |
IL was discussed, and yet they never voted |
Butthe proposition we present is
as palpable as the necessity that suggests
i, and, In view Of these facts, and Of the
war within the party, 1t is alleged that
Democrats have not learned the art Of as
surance so well as their opponents. They /
should hire some liberal ally to tell them
how Pig Iron Kelly and the free trade
Eeeaisg Post used TO support the same
ticket and platform without laughing in one
another's faces. or how Horace Greeley and
Thuriow Need used to do it. The attempt
70 make hard money national cry fails.
Too much stress is laid on platforms alto
gether. The country was best governed
when there were no platforms. There were
gianss in those days. New York led of IN
the hahit q platform making. II became
the Fsge aud then the usage Allen G.
Thurman is a platform in himself; 50 Is
5 J. Tildcn; 80 Is Roscoe Conkling or o.