The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1879-07-16
Letter Of Hon. J. K. Chalmers on the
Political ISSUES.
HEEEANDo, Miss, june -, 1879.

! promises t. he one OF much interest and i'm
| portance, but the condition uf my health
| lorbids. Ny system was 50 much imgregnated
with malarial poison by last summers fever
| that my physicians have advised me to spend
| this summer IN the mountains and on the sea
| coast, Tor which ! shall start soon as 1 can
| arrange some legal business hitherto neglected
| on account uf public duties. Gou ask ii
cannot be with You that / will write YOU !
! letter and give you my political views, and
| you say Eve are confronted with new party
| called Greenbackers and while they are not
very formidable now, if they unite the
| old defuuct radicals with them We may have
| trouble | have watched the rise and pro-
! gre-s OF the new party IN Mississippi with
much interest and some surprise. With most
/ Of the principles enunciated by the Green
back party in Mississippi, as far az / have
seen them, | can agree, and | think l may
safely say that nineteen-twenteths OF the
Democracy OF
THE WEST AND SOUTH
stand on the same platform. 1 can under
stand why Grcenback party might be deemed
a necessity in any State where both the Dem
ocratic and Republican parties are committed
To the gold standard Of value and consequent
enhancement in value of United States bonds
and all securities for debts, but | can see no
good excuse for such party in a State like
Ohio or Mississippi, where the great majority
of-the Democratic party Is thoroughly COM
mitted To the same platform on which the
more sensible class OF Grecnbackers stand, and
where the existence Of separate Greenback
party can only aid and assist the Republicans.
The persistence in such Il course shows the
leaders To- be more anxious for place than the
success OF principle, and in truth, shows
them to be willing to see their principles de
fcatcd rather than see them triumph through
the Democratic organization. But, ii Is said
the Democratic party is not united on the cur
rencv question, and hence the necessity for
tirocubackcr-. 1t is true the Democracy are
divided, and So are the Greenbackers. Some,
under Brick Pomcroy and General Pratt, are
running off after socialism, communism and
reputation. and the fathers of the party have
disowned the bantlng recently brought forth
in Ohio; some, under Ben Hutler are fiat
money men. and hold to the ridiculous non
sense that the government may print on any
thing, "this is a dollar" and, without any
statute to define what is meant by the word
dollar. that this thing, with nothing in the
heavens above or on the earth beneath to
measure or define its value, shall he the
measure of value for every article which labor
produces others, and, ii | understand them
correctly, thu great body OF the party, under
SAMUEL CARY AND GEN ERAL WEAVER,
contend. with General Ewing AMI the western
pcmocracy that "a dollar shall be four hun
drcd and twelve aud oue-haif grains OF silver,
or else uue-sixtecnth OF that weight in gold,
and that greCnhack money, which Is but
paper promise TO pay Is many dollars rs may
be named in the bill, shall be issued in suiii
Gent quantities To supply the demands OF
trade-thdt the United States bonds shall be
paid ~ rapidly "a possiblc-and that national
bank notes shall be retired and their places
supplied with paper money issued by the
guvt tnmcnt direct With this branch OF
Grecnhackcr- | agree Believing that paper
money based on values and measured by coin,
Is essential to commerce, | believe grecnhacks
To be the best paper money ever made. Green
back money is a result OF the war, and one
result of the war that ! am anxious to see
preserved and yet the Republican party,
which pirates much about preserving the
results of the war, would have destroyed tins
result If the Democratic party had not pre-
vented it. While these vital differences of
opinion exist among The Greenback party, and
while in its infancy il has split IN ONO, the
State Of its birth it is rather cool in them to
ask a party as old and long-tried as The
Democracy to disband because some differences
of opiniou exist in its ranks on the currency
question. Again. it is said the Democratic
party as a party, through its organized source
of power the National Democratic Conyen-
ton at St Louis, declared itself in favor OF
what is called the hard-money platform, and
that the soft-money Democrats obeyed the
orders of the convention and yielded their
I'AN'N''NA
dictates of party leaders. This is
PARTLY TRUE AND PARTLY UNTRUE,
but if it were wholly true, it does not come
with very good grace as a ground OF objection
from the leaders of the Greenback movement
in Mississippi, every one of whom were Demo-
cratic supporters of the nominees of the St
Louis convention, and bowed with equal ser
viIitv if gentlemen so choose to call 1t, TO the
dictates of that convention The great and alb
sorbing questions with the Democracy at that
time were retrenchment and reform in the gem
eraI government and the restoration of local
self-government to the States. Upon this we
were a unit We were divided on the curren-
CIV question and when we selected as our most
suitable leader hard-money Democrat, every
soft-monev Democrat felt the necessity of so
shaping our platform on the dividing issue as
TO represent the views of our candidate. The
same condition of affairs still exists in the Dem
ocratic party, and when General Tom Ewing,
the great leader of the soft-money Democrats,
was nominated for governor of Ohio, Frank
Hurd the embodiment of haFd-money IN that
State, not with servriity, but with manly devo-
ton to party, and commendable determine
ton not to contribute anything to Republican
success, announced his intention to support the
ticket. The same course will be pursued in
the next national convention. The sOft-money
Democrats will be in the majority, and will Sc
lect both
THE PLATFORM AND TIE CANDIDATE,
and all good Democrats viii support him in
preference To a Republican without regard TO
the question OF currency. 1t Is, however, "a
great question, and in my judgement the vital
question now before the people; but it Is not
SO essential that every Democrat should be
driven from the party whose views differ with
the majority upon it. If armed men are to be
paraded at the polls to influence elections in
the South as they did IN 1876, and II deputy
marshals and supervisors of elections are to
naturalized citizens as Davenport
did in New York where, according to his boast
full letter the attorney general, he, by threats
and false Imprisonment, took away
the naturalization papers from thirty thousand
bled at Washington to intimidate Congress IN
counting the electoral vote, and if naval yes
sells are 10 be used as prison ships where kid
mapped President-elect can be held against
writs of kdbeets e.sFss, then the question OF cur
rency would sink into insignifeance with all
their love of liberty. We have other issues
besides those of currency, and We cannot afford
to drive out either
BAYARD OR EWING,
either the gold standard or the silYer-standard
Democrats, while they remain true on other
great questions of Democratic policy.
The leaders of the Greenback movement in
Mississippi count on the support of the disban-
tled Republican party but they will be woefulIy
mistaken if they stir up hard-money party
i'm the State, led by southern men of high
standing and purity of character. They caicu-
late on the usual course Of minority to aid
If the Greenbackers are right in their claim,
that the currency question i the moat essential