The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1893-09-12

10 10 py Ine popping OF a
cap. l cannot refrain from quoting
some of the eloquence of that Senator,
which meets not only with my appro-
baton, but highest admiration as a
literary performance:
"Mr. President, | come now to u
next promise to place gold and silver
upon the same footing. It is safe to
say, L think, that bimetallism was the
most popular, If not the most poten-
tlal, factor, in the last campaign. 1t
was the n plank common to all ma
tlonal platforms. It was the one force
which made itself felt under all con
ditions and placed it's seal on every
party's banner"
That is true. He then goes on tosay:
ct is true, sir, that these protesta-
lions and promises ~antedated the cleo
ton; and it may be interesting here
after to compare votes in Congress
with votes in conventions, or party &C
ton in Congress with party promises
In platforms. fear, sir, that the con
trast would put to shame the wonder
inspiring patent medicine advertise
ment, Before and after taking"
Mr.. President, 1 am greatly tempted
to say that l fear the Senator from
Georgia has digged a pit in which he
will fall himself when he votes for
unconditional repeal, and that his
course will be condemned out Of his
own mouth. And l." said the wild
eyed, long haired man who accom-
panied the temperance lecturer, Il
goes along to serve as a frightful ex-
ample" Laughter.
1t will not be stampeded into giving
this death blow to silver. If the emer-
gency of the time be so great as to call
for concessions on the part of the silver
men, it is also necessary that the gold
men should concede something. Civ
ing and taking is fair, but when n
side is to do giving and the other side
gives nothing in return then it amounts
to a surrender.
l do not believe in half the allega-
tions OF public distress and danger
which are constantly thrust upon US.
1 believe that in thirty days from this
time all Instructions to the business of
our country will have passed away.
The financial papers all say now that
the worst is over, and from day to day
they cite from every quarter Of the
country evidence Of renewed activity
and returning business.
The Fin01cieT of New York, a paper,
l presume, Of high authority in bank
circles, announced day before yester-
day that the banks of New Orleans,
Memphis, Mobile, Galveston, and other
places in the South report that there
will be currency sufficient to move the
cotton crop. Like a gorge Of ice in a
river, once the first Obstructing block
breaks loose, the whole mass begins to
move and the blockade Is gone, Let
my good and valued friend from Geor-
gia take heart, and stand by the object
of his love and mine a little while
longer. To insist upon repeal right
now, in the face Of the admitted fact
that the Sherman law is not the cause
of the trouble which the country is
feeling, is an Acknowledgement that it
cannot be repealed without some sub
stitute in cold blood in times of reason
able prosperity. 1t must be done now
right now, or not at all.
Suppose, sir, that we were to take
these promises in the bill that at some
day the remainder of the platform will
be carried out, what assurance have
we that a bill to provide for either the
free coinage or the limited coinage of
silver could become a law? Is there
any indication by any vote of the
House Of Representatives upon the pas
sage of the bill that such a bill would
meet its appreciation? Is there any
thing in the message of the President
or In all his public ~utterances, or is
there any spokesman here authorized
to speak for him who can give us his
assurance that such a bill would meet
his appreciation?
Mr.. President, we know that it would
not become q law; and it strikes me,
sir, that to permit the passage of this
bill without attaching some other legis-
lation to it-knowing that that other
legislation could not be secured indie
pendently and by it8elf-that we con-
sciously surrender and turn our backs
upon all the pledges we have made to
the people. 1t strikes me, sir, that if
we do this we must do it with eyes
open to the consequences; we must do
it knowing that we are ~subjecting DUR
selves to the serious accusations of u
constituents.
It seems to me, sir, that the great
Democratic party, which I have always
supported because I believed it to be
not only correct in it's theories of gov
eminent, but devoted to the interests
Of the common people, the masses of
the land-it seems to me, l say, that If
we pass this bill now Internationally,
that this great party will then cease to
be the peoples friend and become the
subservient tool of combined capital,
and will constitute itself in it's legisla
ton the lineal and legitimate successor
of the thirty three years of that Re
publican rule which we have always
heretofore denounced as building up
the combinations and corporations
which have .well-nigh absorbed the
wealth of our country.
I speak plainly upon this subject.
Mr.. President, because | feel deeply. l
am too old have been too long in
public life, I have been greatly trusted
and honored by the people Of my State