Evening journal., 1894-10-22
FOR FREE GOVERNMENT
A Rousing Democratic Meeting
in the Academy of Music.
SENATOR GORDON ON THE ISSUES


The Academy of Music was crowded Sat
urdey evening by enthusiastic Democrats
assembled TO hear Hon. James Lindsay
Gordon, of New York, who is looked
upon as one Of the most eloquent and
polished orators of the American stage
of to-day. 1t was Democratic
audience, too, and the applause was
frequent and hearty. Senator Gordon
was suffering with severe cold and
was not at his best, but those who heard
him were well paid. The Tenth ward and
Bancroft clups attended in q body, the
Eormer with Hyatt's band, the latter with
the DuPont's Banks band. On the stage
were a number of prominent d mocrats
Peter J. Ford called the meeting to ORD er
and named DR.. Tomlinson as chairman.
That gentleman spoke briefly, thanking
the audience for the honor done him,
and then introduced Senator Gordon,
who spoke materially as follows:
'Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen
and fellow Democrats of the common
wealth of Delaware, | take great
pleasure In thanking you for the very
cordial reception, and let me say to you
that 1t is very satisfactory to my hear
70 stand on the soil of Delaware once
1ore. do not feel that am stranger
here, because two years ago, In that
great historical campaign which has
passed into history as one in which the
Democratic party had staked everything
on the result of a fight for the
continuance of the free government for
which our forefather's fought and
died, had the pleasure and good
fortune to stand with the Democracy of
Delaware, SO when the message came to
the city of New York, where l have
been engaged in the practice of my
profession, remembering the splendid
reception received at your hands, l laid
down my work there, and obeying the
dictates Of my conscience and heart, l
came to Delaware, to tsks my ola place
beneath the flag of her Democracy.
Ever since was old enough to under.
stand what government meant, l be-
lieved with all the fervor of conviction
that 1t was the faiTest and best and
freest in the world, and that its
ultimate and enduring perpetuation
rested on the principles of the Demo
cratic party. There may be and always
is difference of opinion in any party.
Laws which may satisfy the peach
growers of Delaware may not be salts.
factory to-. the sugar planters of
Louisiana The provisions of the law
which might prove advantageous to the
sturdy residents Of the pine clad hills Of
Maine, might breed discomfort with
those of the valleys Of California; the
statutes which might create Joy among
the growers of tobacco in Virginia and
Tennessee might be source OF discon-
tent to the grain raisers of Kansas, 1 or
the lumber men of Michigan Despite
all this we still cling to the party of
which Thomas Jefferson said that it's
principles should never die When
Lincoln, who was q Democrat, although
The environments made him q mem Der of
the Republican party, declared at
Gettysburg that this was government
of, for and by the people, he voiced a
great and fundamental truth. If he had
gone further and said this must be a
government Of, for and by the states,
that there must not be a centraliz ltion
OF despotism, must not be an oligarchy,
he would have voiced the whole
Democratic theory. The practice of the
Republican party for the past thirty two
years has been antagonistic to that
theory, as evidenced by the Force bill
which was designed to take from the
states their power Of government and
centralize it In Washington; by its
Sherman silver purchasing bill, designed
to take money from the pockets of the
workingman, and centralizs it in the
pockets Of few men, friends Of that
government
''In 1898. for the first time in years, the
Democratic party found itself cor fronteG
by vast and complex problems, which il
had pledged itself to solve. The retiring
Republican administration had lefi
vast heritage of woe; haC
left laws on the statute book
which were menace to our free govern.
ment; which surrounded the pollinl
places in cur large cities with armed
minions of the law and by the aid O.
John |. Davenport and his lieutenantl
had made. especially in New York, frei
ballot a mockery aud fair count fable
They had left code Of laws which wer,
the scorn Of the world laws making ou
currency little more than a commodity;
pension system which thirty two year
after the last gun at Appomatox haS
ceased to reverberate throughout thu
land, was costing the country 500, ,0OO,-
600 year; and last they left US tarii
system which was disgrace to tn
civilization Of the century While tn
world was dazzled by the fortunes 0
our monopolist princes, the wheat rottei
III inc lAfmers DarnS ana our street
were filed with starving workingmen
Although on all sides labor strikes an
commercial failures kept step with tn
rise in tariff duties, these men, who 70
thirty-two years held high carnival Will
the people paid the piper, posed ss th
guardians of American labor and til
protectors of the American wol kinemar
And now they come before you and as
to be returned to power because there /
hard times and stagnstion of commerc,
"These Republicans talk of hard time.
am acquainted with them myself, and
want to give you some figures. Betwee
1878 and 1882 there were 75, 900 failures
the greatest number for a correspondin
period ever experienced This was unds
high protection. During the next eigI
years, there were S2 600 In 1890, whe
the cruel Mckinley bill was passe' tt
cruelest, meansst law which ever wa
placed on our statute books, and whic
bore hardest on the men who eatne
their bread by the sweat of their brow
there were II 600 failures. In 1885,
there were 10000, and last year, afte
two years of McKinleyism there weT
10. $50 failures repres- nting $462, ,000, OF
of commercial liabilifies Yet baeau,