The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1893-09-14

policy and purposes open to the charge
OF insincerity and Of so framing words
as to de Give the people whose suffrage
they were seeking?
If such an Interpretation of the plat
form as is contenGed for here by those
who will vote for repeal, and presuma-
! bly, by the President, had been an
nounced during the campaign of last
year, am quite sure Mr.. Cleveland
would not have carried my State by
$4,000 votes, and l believe he could
| not have carried sing'e, solitary
| electoral vote South of the Poto U &C
River one. But it is said that
the is no abandonment of the Chicago
platform in the u 20 Litional repeal of
the Sherman law, but only a postpone
mem, a-d that the bill itself contains
reaffirmatiO of tho p"O nises.
N. President, wonder if in any Of
our political literature, rich as it is in
ingenuity and device, full as it is of
eloquence and true genius, over
bunrdened as it is with every conceiv-
able and inconceivable form of Wild
catism and humbuggery which a
hundred years Of free government,
wherein men of all opinions have had
chance to ventilate them, have
produced-I wonder, say, if anything
is to be found on all its pages ap-
preaching in absurdity to the incorpora-
ting in this bill Of part of the Chicago
platform? Was there ever a cat
trotting through the tangled thickets of
the Alleghenies, OF roaming over the
barren wilds of the Rocky Mountains,
so wild and untamable as this cat !?
[Laughter.l Was there ever any bug
discovered and classified by science
with hum equal to the hum of this
bug? [Laughter.l
The representatives of the Demo-
cratic party assembled in convention
in Chicago in 1899, as they had done
in St. Louis in 1888, and before that
in Chicago in 1884, and made certain
pledges to the people that they would
make certain financial reforms if the
people would only put them in power
where they could enact laws. Among
other things, the last convention held
at Chicago pledged the American
Democracy that if intrusted with
power they would enact such laws as
would repeal the Sherman act-secure
us the use of both gold and silver in
our currency-coin it on equal terms,
and maintain the parity of the two.
These promises were contained in one
paragraph, and consistently with good
faith are not separable. They consti-
tuted a scheme by which the financial
policy of the country was to be re-
formed, and honor and fair dealing
require it to be carried out together.
Well the people truested and be-
lieved; the Democrats were put in
power, and Mr.. Cleveland, though
known to be personally hostile to the
use of silver, was elected because the
people believed that he would carry out
in good faith the promises made for
him in the platform, and to which he
had acceded in his letter of acceptance.
For the first time in thirty-three
years the Democratic party was in
trusted with the power Of enacting
laws. Now, in fulfillment of these
promises, the first thing done is to
yield to the clamor of the capitalists
hostile to silver, and anticipate the
regular session of Congress for the sole
purpose of stopping the coinage of
silver and nothing more.
Accordingly, the House, Fastening
to obey, has sent such bill over to
this body, and anticipating its action,
the Finance Committee had introduced
similar bill for its repeal, so that we
have two bills pending before US on the
subject of the Sherman law, and the
repeal is likely to be carried out in
some shape. By the way, have
for the undoing of that action than
that Senator. 1t is confession that
he is wrong aud it is All appeal from
his conscience and seems to say to the
court, = Hurry up, judge; 1 am a
great criminal let there be no delay :;
do not even let the jury have water"
Laughter.l
But what about the remainder of the
platform? The same bill-almost the
same strokes of the same pen could
have inserted an additional provision
looking in the direction of coming
silver on equal terms with gold, main
tanning its parity, etc. But instead Of
that we give the stock brokers and the
gamblers aud the banks by this bill all
they want, and we put off the American
people with still another promise. We
pay the gold bugs cash and pay the
people with another paper promise re-
deemable at the option Of the makers.
[Laughter.l
Now, if the promise. at Chicago
were not good, how would the promises
inserted In the law become any better.
1t might, indeed, be good for another
and SO on an infnitum, as we see
tickets ON steamboats, sometimes.
GOOD for six days at the the bar
only there the drinks are paid for
already.
How long are we to postpone the
people? How long dare we do it: No
| one says what we are to give them in
fulfillment of our pledges after repeal.
There is no intimation that anything
more is to be given in the message
which the President addressed to US !;
not whisper.
He does intimate little that in due
time we will take hold of the Mckinley
tariff law, but as foT anything more for
silver-say nothing but good of the