The Russellville Democrat., 1893-07-27


 CT. It Is in honor bound to carry out 1 both pledges. The ratio between the l two metals can be fixed by congress so ! intrinsic and exchangeAhle value and l the parity of silver with gold, as soon as the ban of 0utlawry by the govern ment is removed. will take care of It self.
 There is another important measure
 to which our party ia thoroughly com mitted, and that is the repeal Of the ten per cent tax on issues of State banks. We promised this act to the country and we should perform 1t, Let the States have the privilege to regulate their own banks of issne. They did this for eighty years and the country proapered. The Democratic party made and whipped the fight with the repeal of this tax as ono of it's promises, and it will be the worst kind of bad faith for lthe dominant party in congress not to fuifill it to the very letter. You know
 the solemn pledges that were made I from every stump in the South during the presidential election. Whom the pop
 ulIsts charged our party with being re- sponsible for the decentralization of sil-
 yer and for the national banks, our or
 ators and editors ran acked the files of the Congressional Record to prove that
 1t was not the democrats but the repub- licaps that outlawed silver and the State banks. 1 have heard senators, congressman and governors talk by the hour to prove that the republicans and they alone were responsible for those
 measures. They said to the people:
 ssTrust us with the power and we will restore silver and the STate banks to their rightful place in the currency
 and banking system of the country" They said, "Don't hold our party re.
 sponslble; we have not been iil power
 in the government for thirty years.
 Trust us this one time, and we will
 right your wrongs and remove all the 1 injustice from which you suffer-"
 have heard such promises on the stump They are incorporated in our National
 platform and I take for granted our
 party wlll carry them into practice.
 But, signs are not wanting in certain quarters that fight will be made with. l in the party against free silver and State bank notes. The New York l World, the Philadelphia Record, and other prominent democratic papers are strongly opposed to the free coinage
 of silver. The Washington correspond
 ent of the Philadelphia Record telo graphs that no compromises will be recommended by the president on the silver, tariff or any other question. He
 will not recon aend either the State bank tax repeal or the income tax, Ev- 1 idences are not wanting that a campaign of education has been going on against
 certain pledges Of the democratic plat form, and it is presumed that by the time congress meets public opinion among the farmers of the South and l West will have been sufficiently cdu- cafed to justify change of front upon the part of their representatives in con- gress. For instance, the Record cor respondent quotes Gen. Catchings of l Mississippi as saying, "Thc repeal of the Sherman act and the reform of the tariff are two great subjects with which 1 we will have to deal. Personally,
 favor the repeal of the Sherman law. 1 With regard to the sentiment of the South concerning the repeal of the sherman act, believe that it is in an 1 affirmative state. The people not only there but in all sections of the country are doing more thinking upon this sub jeet than ever before. Eighteen month:
 ago the South was strongly in favor of
 free coinage, but it is not so today. 1 Sentiment is changing. 1 quote the 1 following in full from the Philadelphia
 Record, as showing how the process of education against free coinage Is being conducted: "Keeping Silver at Gold l Par The closing of .he hints of India
 to the coinage of silver is coming to be
 regarded at the treasury department as one of the settled results Of the re-
 cent inquiry.by the British government l The results upon the price Of silver are
 likely to be anything but pleasant to the silver miners. It is not expected that efforts will be made at once to put
 India upon the gold basis, as that the vast masses of silver now in circulation
 in all parts of India, with the stamp oi
 the British empire upon them. will be
 called in. Closing the hints will sim
 ply close the India market for silver 1 Tor colnage purposes and limit the de-
 nands to the use of silver for orna-
 ments.'
 1 The probability of such move by | the British government has already
 caused break in the silver market to
 sl cents per ounce, which is less than silver has ever before been. The im-
 ports of silver into British India for
 the year ending March 3l, 1889, were s45. .000.5 .525, for 1890 S43, ,79S, ,500, for 1891 $5l ,926,717, and for 1892, S42, ,73S, ,036. The shutting off of this market means a blow at the silver miners only second in importance to the entire suspe asion
 of silver purchases by the United States This restriction of The market VII op-
 crate at once upon this country and the value of the silver dollar will sink all most to that of mere taken coinage.
 It is probable that when congress meets in August the president will be able to present conclusive proofs that
 it Is absolutely beyond the power of the United States to keep silver at parity with gold at the old ratio, against the opposition of the world.
 But, am In favor of keeping faith with the people. The democratic plat form does not demand that the govern ment or the United States shall keep silver at parity with gold at the old ra- tio against the opposition of the world, but 1t does demand it's remonetization on ratio that shall make 1t of intrin- sic and exchangeable value with gold. If the sentiment in the South was strongly ill favor of silver eighteen months ago, as represented by General CatchiDgs, 1t was still stronger six months later at the Chicago convention, when it backed up the West in the de- mand for the free silver coinage plank. TT