Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1894-07-22
MAJOR BAKER p. LEE.
His Views as to District Conventions and
Free silver.

His Views as to District Conventions and
Free silver.
To the Editor OF the Dispatch:
Since It seems that Senator Stubbss
suggestion OF State Democratic conven-
ton is not to be adopted. 1t IL to be
earnestly hoped that our nominating DIS
trict conventions will unequivocaily take
position on each OF the questions OF burn
ing interest TO be discussed in the canvass
However IT may be elsewhere. the condi-
tions In the South are such that. In JUS
tice 10 itself. the Democratic party should
proceed TO reckonings and soundihgs AT
the earliest opportunities in order TO ma
out where the ship is and in'what depth
of water she Is floating. This is neces-
sary to give steadlness to the party. IL
is necessary TO remove the nisgivings OF
many thoughtful men who are not as
well satisfied as they have been. IL IL
necessary to let the leaders know what
the people are expecting. With that
abatement OF party feeling for the mere
sake OF party, which has consequently
come along behind the receding race
question. there has appeared In stronger
outline the sterner countenance or the
more silent citizen who wants TO DE toiu
not so much how the victory may be won
for the party as how better times ana
purer politics and lighter taxation may
be attained for the people.
This Is an "off year" 1t must be re-
membered: and even with a canvass VI
talized with the questions warmest with
L., Int xnFf1 ~
no easy matter TO so fire the popular
mind and heart as TO bring out in full
force the strength of the party In every
district. With perfunctory platform de-
clarations, half saying what should be
freely and fearlessly said, half meaning
what should be earnestly and ardently
meant II need not surprise US IL on the
day of election the Democratic ranks be
not equal to the Democratic rolls, 'if, In
deed, it be net found that the allied
army on the other side has here and
there. a quondam Democrat fighting. CO.
riolanus-like. against the Rome he had al
ways thought he could not love too well
The people are not after the offices
| They are after relief from the indus
| trial distress with which all this land Is
afflicted. They want to see a suffciency
| of money In circulation to accommodate
| the enterprise and the resources of the
| country, TO break the chains they hear
| clanklng for them in the hands OF the
| money-kings. And the people are In
| earnest. They mean work, serious. sub
| stantial work. They have been disap-
| pointed I'm some of the Democratic sniefs
| In whom they confided. In some cases, in
| deed, they feel that they have been be-
trayed These things are the thorns in
| the flesh of the Democratic party; and
! II we would avoid the defeat that turks
| in dissension and difference. these wrongs
must be remedied.
| Although the people generally may not
| yet be as familiar with the merits OF
| the supreme question Of free coinage
and more money as for their own in
| terests they ought To be, the question
is well enough understood already to
evoke a popular pressure in its favor
| that no aspirant for place In the councils
OF the country can or will dare TO disre-
| gard And the cause IL gaining ground
/ every hour. Patriotic. public-spirited. lib
eral-minded men. thinking not or ofices
for themselves. but of deliverance for the
people. are reading and brooding over
| the currency, and the reasons for its
scarcity. in every city, town, county, and
neighborhood in the South. They See
| that the world over among the men who
are dealers In money there has been. and
continues to be- a brotherhood bound to-
gether by their own peculiar interests,
inspired by the self-seeking avidity OF
| human nature, untempered by any Chris
| tian consideration for their fellow-men.
| and guided by an exceptional intelligence
| born of a concentrated mentality, with
| all the equipment OF sophistry. mystery,
! and the lever as well as the legerdemaln
! of the gold market, to aid II In appllca-
! ton OF its actual power. and I'm the exer-
| else of It's fnesse in giving form and di-
rection to financial legislation. They see
| that, in virtue OF the forces which cooper
ative millions Of money put in their hands,
| the strong men have mastery of the
weak men, and that they will continue to
| hold it as long as they continue TO con-
troll the fiscal machinery OF the govern
ment. They see the money-centres on the
I other side OF the working as coun-
terparts, in n reciprocal system with the
money-centres on this side Of the sea.
/ They see England, with characteristic
wisdom, cunning, and greed, blocking
the international road to bimetalism, and
making the producer here pay heavy
tribute to the landlord and the money
lender there. Our rejecting farmers and
| workingmen are. | say beginning to see
into these causes of the distressful con-
dtions I'm this country; and they are
making up their minds 10 put a stop to
IL all Gold is not their idol. and they
will neither worship il NOR be made
afraid by it.
So far from assailing property or
! questioning the rights Of property, the
knights of the crusade in the cause of
| free coinage and more money are lending
/ their lances to conservatism. while they
are crying out for the removal Of the
causes which, in the nature of man,
| laf Ia, he
throes Of revelation. They are neither at
tacking the horse the man is mounted
upon nor the man himself; they are
earnestly protesting, however. that the
| man on the horse shall not have the
| right TO ride over any man who happens
not to have a horse. The free-silyer man
! is a Democrat In the broadcst and best
sense of that grand old word that has
so much Of the finest philosophy OF the
! highest civilization in its proper signih-
canoe. The free-silver man Is progressive
withal, and conservative. too He Is a
man for the rights OF his fellowman
whether that fellOw-man be a capitalist
with millions or a manual-laborer de-
pendent for his daily bread upon MS
daily wage. The free-coinage man Is fOi
fair play between rich and poor in the
field OF finance. as we'll as in every Other
field He makes no question as to Eng
lands right to forbid the coinage OF sill
yer rupees in India. But he denies hei
right 10 influence legislation interdictinl
the coinage OF silver dollars in America
For the sake of the party and OF the
people, let us trust that each of our ap
preaching Democratic district conventions
will declare for free coinage 10 10 !, ant
for the will of the people as the sou
OF the party. BAKER 4. LEE.
Hampton, Va. July 18th.
Diseased MIX.