The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1893-12-27

memory, if You ever knew the fact,
that these banks hold charters which
will not expire until 1907, so that
there would be some difficulty in the
immediate "abolition of the national
banks.'
You demand "the establishment
of sub.trcasuries in the several
States'' Every lawyer of. promi
nence whom I'have heard express all
opinion on this proposition declares
it to be unconstitutional. The Demo.
cratic party can scarcely adopt an
unconstitutional measure, and it
seems to me that this cardinal demand
might at least be called ga fallacy"
You "condemn the silver billrecent-
'y passed by Congress, and demand
in lien thereof the free and unlimited
coinage of silver" Is this demand
in accordance with the Democratic
platform !?
Your platform demands the owner
ship of railroad and telegraph lines
by the Government, under certain
conditions When the people take
into consideration the fact that the
amount of capital invested in rail.
roads is twelve billions Of dollars,
and that the Government would have
to pay that enormous sum to secure
possession Of these roads, the
proposition that the Government
should purchase them-for | take it
you would not advocate the con6sea-
ton of this property-will strike all
sensible people as decided fallacy.
Scould the policy advocated in this
plank of your platform be adopted,
the people oe the country would be
saddled with debt several times
greater than that caused by the war,
and the burtlen of taxation, already
too onerous, would paralyze all indus.
tries and entail ruin on the tax
payers.
Your party mas, believe, placed
itself in opposition to the repeal Of
the prohibitory tax on State banks.
and yet one plank in the Democratic
platform advocates this measure.
Now. you must admit that your
platform is not in accord with that of
the Democratic party, and think
chat | was fully justified in saying
that no man standing on the Ocala
platform could claim to be a Demo-
crat Ido not question the patriot
ism of the men who agree with you
as to the true principles of Jef1er-
sonlan Democracy, but | do not
construe those principles as you do !;
yet have always regarded myself as
Democrat. There are several
planks in your platform with which [
concur, as does every true Democrat.
as, for instance, your fourth and fifth
questions Your seventh has a
rather potent objection against its
adoption The Constitution pre-.
scribes the mode of electing United
States Senators, and until three.
fourths of the States choose to
change that mode the present method
must obtain
| hardly think that the change will
be made in time to allow any Of the
present young aspirants of the
Alliance to test their strength before
the people. However, l should not
object to that test III South Carolina,
and primary might possibly express
the wishes Of our people as we'll, if
not better, than the General Assem-
bly, but | am quite content to
stand in this matter, as in others, on
the Constitution, where my party has
always stood.
You have, l suppose, read the
Democratic platform, and if you
comprehend it you must see how
greatly it differs from yours. Very
many Democrats think that the
similarity of your platform and that
of the Populist is more marked
than that between Democratic and
the Ocala.
Your letter to me seems to have
been brought out by mine suggesting
the formation of Democratic clubs in
South Carolina. As vice president
of the National Democratic League
| was asked to authorize the organ
:Daticn of these clubs, and | wrote to
ascertain the wishes of the true
Democrats in the State. 1t never
occurred to me that any white man
in South Carolina would be ashamed
to Join Democratic club. Should
there he any such, all can find their
alignment, for the Republicans,
Populists and the Ocalaites all hold
out allurcments for recruits aud
proselytes. There was time when
it was the pride of our people to hold
an honorable place in the grand
n..,no.ot;,, ,,,1,,,nr ns National