The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1878-08-29
(For the DEMocRAT)
REVIEW OF M'KINLEY'S SPEECH,

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at any new instance of it, but the un'
blushing effrontry Of Mckinley, in his
speech in the Massillon convention, is
simply astounding, and demands some
notice. Mckinley has now shown him
self to be an unprinciped and unscrupu'
lous demagogue. His remarks were not
the extemporaneous illusions, delivered
on the spur of the moment, but on the
contrary, prepared and well considered
speech. So by this speech we can judge
the man.
The speech is shrewd one for the
Major. 1t is not one that will bother
him in the future, so he hatters himself
at least, for it is wholly non-committal;
no plan, no policy, no remedy, no relief
On not single issue has he expressed
himself, save the tariff question; and he
yainly imagines that by his tariff agita'
tion, and non.Committal policy on tnan-
cial issues, he can obtain the votes Of
preenbackers and workingmen, and also
of the hard money, banking and bond
holding element. Workingmen are not
so easily caught, Major, He says he is
satisfied with the financial condition of
the country; that further improvement
ia impossible; that we have reached
state of perfection, financially. To quote
his own words "that Congress has finally
disposed of he financial question:; that The
situation ought nOw TO be accepted mat the
country noW needs repoSe, and that further
dgitation of this question is injurious" " This
is statesman MCKinley's great remedy,
and this man wants to represent labor.
ingmen in Congress Verify, if he is
honest in his sentiments he should be
sent to An asylum instead of Congress.
After your financial system has wrecked
the country; thrown millions out of en-
ployment, and reduced them to the verge
of starvation, you dare tell them there is
no hope of relief; that the situation
ought now to be acCepted;" and that they
shall not even have the poor privilege of
counseling with each other on their mis-
erable condition. Agitation is iDjuriousl
Agitation, the life of the nation, the safe.
guard of the people, injurious! To whomP
Honesty and truth fear no agitation!
Yes, let the poor cat their bread OF
sorrow and drink their cup of wretChed'
ness in quiet, thoughtless silence Their
masters, Mckinley and his monied aris-
tocracy will think and "agitate" for them.
No, Major, the bait of the tariff will not
gull the people; they will vote for no
man who is so overshadowed with the
money power that he can see no imper.
feCtion in the financial condition of the
country; they wiH think and they will qgitate,
and moreover, vOte, too, as you will Hnd
to your sorrow.
However powerful the money power
may be, and however servile its hirelings
may be, they might as we'll attempt to
stop the course of the sun, as to try and
stop the masses of the people from "agi-
tating" measures and plans of relief in
their hopeless condition. The masses
are not yet mere automatons in this
country, thank God; and will not tamely
submit when told by Wanting aristo-
crat that agitation is injurious" They
will agitate, and therein lies the hope of
the country
Mckinley acts on the principle that
all is fair in politics, and that the end
iustifes the means. He has bidden fare.
well to fairness and honesty until after
the election, and it seems that anything,
however disreputable, is within his po-
litiCal code of morals, providing there is
possibility of making votes. His speech
at the Massillon convention is proof of
this assertion.
Without daring to define his position
on any one of the financial issues, he
had not sufficient honesty to represent
correctly the Democratic position.
He reproaches the Democrats with
having been originally opposed to green
backs, quoting from speech Thurman
man in 1862, in which he said, that an
irredeemable currency would depreCiate;
then quoting from the Stark County
Democrat of 1873, an article in which the
Democrat opposed the initiation Of an ir.
redeemable currency, and then pomp-
ously exClaims: "Hhis shows what the
"Ohio idea was then, and with what
favor the party held them, that now
"prUfesses 80 much love for them; and
"that now in their platform demand their
permanent establishment as the sole
money of the country" He had not
the candor nor the honesty to add the
words of that platform, which says, "and
made receivable for all dues to the gov.
ernment, of equal tender with coin"
These words would have explained the
past and present position of the Demo
Gratis, and would have of themselves been
a refutation of McKinley's shrewd but
dishonest demagoguism,
Mckinley knew full well that the ex-
tracts from Thurman and the Democrat,
quoted by him, contain the Democratic
doctrine of to-day, and that every Dem
oCrat who stands by the platform, inclu'
ding Thurman, and the Democrat main
tain the same doctrine to-day. We ask
this pompous statesman, and challenge
him to point out in the Ohio platform,
or in the speech of any Democratic
speaker in this campaign, one single
word in favor of imitation, or of the is.
sue of any more greenbacks, except to
replace the National Bank note. How,
replacing bank notes by greenbacks By
the very currency in which bank notes are
nOlV by the Ian redeemable, can he be said
to be an inhationist of the currency, We
would like this rising statesman to ex-
plain.
Mckinley is not so obtuse but that he
knows the difference between green
back receivable by the government for
all dues, including duties on imports;and
a greenback that was a mongrel bastard
at its birth, dishonored and disowned by
the government, and refused by the 60 /
ernment in payment of the larger share
of its revenues. Mckinley knows this
difference, and that it fully explains the
past and present position of the Ohio
Democracy. He knows that Democratic
speakers to-day, when speaking in favor
of greenbacks, speak from the standpoint
of the Democratic platform, and mean
the greenbacks of that platform, green.
backs receivable by the government for all
dues, and of equal tender lOith coin"
In one breath he reproaches the Dem
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