Birmingham age-herald., 1894-11-03
AN OPEN LETTER.


 publican measure, provisions of which re- 1 quired the secretary of the treasury to pur-
 chase monthly over 4, ,000 GOO ounces of sil- | yer. In the special session they asserted | with great earnestness in their speeches | that if this clause of the Sherman law was
 repealed confidence and business would
 be immediately restored. And in this
 claim it is to be regretted that many of our leading democrats joined the republicans.
 The clause was repealed, yet we looked in
 vain for restoration. So it is seen that | while this provision of the Sherman silver
 law contributed towards producing the l panic, yet subsequent history has demon- | strated that there were other forces of evil
 at work which caused the hard times we l have experienced. You know there is a | very old principle of law, founded upon
 eternal justice, which declares that when a person admits thing to be a fact such per- | son IS afterwards e5topped from denying
 the truth of such admission. Now, apply | this principle to the republicans Tn tbis
 campaign, and it Is seen thatthe democrats | are entitled to a verdict. In my opinion
 the people of this country will not permit | the republicans to be continually shifting
 their ground for partisan purposes, and l believe it is the concensuS of opinion that l McKinleyism was the dominating force | that created the conditions so pathetically | described by the able congressman from | Maine.
 MT. Reed, in this same speech, declared:
 :There is n 70 reason why democratic lead-
 CTS should stop issuing promises as long as
 the public will take them. They are never | redeen1ed.' Is this declaration sustained | by the facts? MT. Reed intends to claim | by this statement that the democra party
 madea platform iu Chicago wherein 1t | made certain promises to the people of this | country, and his claim is that the party 1 failed to keep lis promises in good faith
 with the people. ls it not true that the | silver purchasing clause of the Sherman
 law was denounced as makeshift and | should be repealed? Is it not also true that | this promise has been Kept? It promised to l repeal the odious election laws which the I United States marshal of this district two | years ago claimed authorized him and his l deputies to take charge of the election polls
 of the people. You will remember that he | made all his arrangements, and was only | prevented by the instructions sent out by I that brave, patriotic and modest citizen, l Gen. Charles M. Shelley. We'll, the dem- 1 ocrats have kept this promise, and these l election laws, which upheld the Daven- ports, cease to exist.
 Again, this platform promised the people l that if they would trust the democratic l party with power it would revise the reve- | nue laws of the country and reduce taxa l lion. Ii you will get the democratic cam
 paign book and examine the comparison of l rates of duties between the Mckinley aot 1 and the new law you will see with what | good faith the democratic party kept this | promise to the people. Even Mir. Reed, | I ceeded to argue that the democrats had l kept this promise, had reduced taxes, and
 by doing so had disturbed business aud
 perpetuated the effects of the panic. When | you analyze his speech you will perceive
 how inconsistent he was ln his various | elaine and contentious. There Mas -ape@N
 grand old chancellor in country, who
 declared that no Indn should be permitted
 10 nrst l2o'"not and then cold. He said j man who was guilty of such practices had no standing in his court.
 MT. Mckinley, the great apostle of pro- lection, protection run mad, in his New Orleans speech, among other things, said: "England, as have stated, is the only country which imposes tariff exclusively for revenue. This has been her policy for now nearly half century. It has, there- fore, been tried, and under the most fa- vorable circumstances. Does her condition present picture inviting to Americans?'' He then consumes considerable time in att tempting to show how disastrous tariff fc- revenue has been for England. He also insists that the democratic party, in it's tariff policy, is favoring England, and on account of this he is very indignant. Lot us examine the consistency of MT. Mckin- ley in respect to this position. He claims that it would be better for Americans if the United States were walled clear around; that is, that we can live independent of the world, and the wisest thing we could do would be to make a tariff imposing such duties as would prohibit the importation of anything into this country. How does he stand on the financial question: He Is gold standard man and claims that bimet- ailism cannot be maintained unless we have England. In other words, his .po- sition is this: That the American people are helpless financially and cannot maintain financial system unless we have the permission and the aid CT European nations. He discredits the financial abil. ity and resources of his own country when dealing with finances, and then, on the tariff question, turns around and claims that we should shut out the entire world. have more faith in my country than MT: Mckinley. believe that it can pass and successfully support a tariff for revenue only. I further believe that the United | States has the ability and resources to maintain our own system of finances with
 out any aid from England or any other foreign power. I may be mistaken, but 1t l is virtue to have absolute faith in one's l own country, even if such faith rests upon | a mistake.
 l Our present financial system was created l by the republicans. The condition of trade l demonstrates every day that it is defective,
 incomplete, favoring one section of the | country at the expense of other sections. l If you are satisfied with the present inan-
 cial system and policy of the federal gov. l taxation imposed by the terms of the old Mckinley law, then vote for republican l to represent you in congress. On the other hand, If you desire change in the fnan- cial policy of the national government, and want it sufficiently broadened to meet all the demands of trade throughout the length and breadth of the union, and also | want to enjoy the reduced taxes of the present tariff law, then vote for the demo-
 cratic nominee to represent you in con.
 gress. This is the whole question in nut
 Shell, and 1t is for you to determine which I of the systems you prefer.
 T POPULISTS.
 Let us examine for few minutes the
 system of federal government insisted upon