Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1892-08-12
Address from Chairman Gordon.

Address from Chairman Gordon.
Mr.. Basil B. Gordon, chairman of the
democratic State central committee,
has issued the following address to the
democratic members of the third party ::
SANDY, RAPPAHANNoCK COUNTY,
August 8, 1892.
TO the democratic members Of the third
party: -,
Three years ago l was honored with
the leadership of an undivided party.
Whatever claims may have possessed
to YOUR confidence, / am not conscious
of having forfeited them, and it is in
their name, rather than as the repre-
sentative Ola rival organization, that
l ask leave to call your attention to
some features in the coming campaign
which seem to me vitally to affect the
welfare OF our people.
However opinion may differ as to
the measures you advocate, no sane
man can doubt existence OF the evils
you seek to remedy.
The widespread depression among
farmers, their virtual exclusion by law
or practice from banking facilities, the
fierce and growing competition Of the
West. more than Justify the formation
of a party whose single object shall be
the correction of these grievances.
Were it in your power to secure the
success of your ticket it would be idle
to suggest surrender of your position,
or even the concession of any material
point. As it is, the most enthusiastic
member of your party cannot hope to
carry the State this fall. At most you
could only accomplish the defeat OF the
democracy and the success of the re-
publican party.
1t is for you to decide whether that
success would further your cause, and
how much you will gain by abandoning
those principles you have so long sup
ported and those comrades by whose
side you have fought for so many
years.
The democratic party offers you by
the repeal Of the bank tax an in
crease of currency estimated by many
as even larger than would have result
ed from the free coinage ofsilver.
1t promises you relief from those
taxes upon the necessaries Of life whose
only justification is the plea that they
have advanced wages.
1t is not necessary to go to Pennsyl-
vania to reflte this claim, for no body
of men are in a better position than
yourselves to know that it is false.
Republican supremacy, on the other
hand, will mean contracted currency.
1t will mean increased taxation, whose
proceeds will be squandered in the fur
Their Generalization of the Union SOL
der. Above all, it will mean the pas
sage of the force bill.
The silence of their speakers, the
faint-hearted denials of their local lead
ers, cannot make you forget the SUI
preme effort they made to pass it two
years ago and the solemn pledge renew
ed to their followers in Minneapolis
scarcely two months since. The men
who voted for it are still in the Senate,
the President who urged it is still the
candidate of his party, the press that
advocated it has never retracted a syl-
liable of its praise.
The negro has set his heart upon it,
and demands it as the price of his vote.
If human experience sheds any light
upon the future, and human language
is capable of expressing thought, their
first act will be to entrench themselves
in power by the passage of such bill.
4 measure described by one of its
former advocates as ''the most infa-
nous that ever crossed the threshold of
the Senaten needs little condemnation
at the hands of its proposed victims.
In the very words of its anthor, ut
means a bayonet behind every ballot" "
Rather than describe the horrors of
such condition I will trust to your
patriotism. to avert them. However
you may cast your vote !, for one, shall
not doubt that you have done so with
a full sense of the responsibility involv-
ed. and actuated by as sincere love of
our common State as any class of her
citizens. Very respectfully,
BASIL 3. GORDON,