The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1895-07-27

uoAo 40 Jul Itply. II Inc OC8Io
convention, assembled under such
auspices, shall, in the face of right
and reason, perpetrate SO great an
act Of tyranny as to declare for this
rotten system of finance, and force
Democrats like the editor of the
States to choose between their
fealty to the party and a bolt to the
Republican or any other party,
then we say we shall stand by the
party. No man or set of men can
drive the editor of the States out
of the Democratic party. When
that party, in addition to declaring
for an alien and ruinous financial
policy, shall abandon in the South
its loyalty to White Supremacy,
and in the Union its fidelity to
States rights and free trade and its
opposition to force bills, then, in
deed will it have forfeited all claims
upon all Democrats, and we and
others like us will be left without
a party. But SO long as the Demo-
cracy contends for the great prin-
ciples of constitutional government
we have enumerated, it will be the
stronghold of our liberties, and we
stand by it until our eyes close up
on the scenes of this world.
In case the State convention and
the National Convention declare
for the free silver fad we shall be
confronted by two evils and forced
to choose between them. As GER
tain as the government adopts the
policy of the free silverites finan-
cial disorder will befall the country;
on the other hand, just as certain
ly as the Democratic party is de-
feated in the 1896, the reign of the
constitution will be ended; weshall
have centralized despotism; Nc
Kinleyism, with its taxation Of the
people to the enormous amount of
one billion two hundred and fifty
millions of dollars per annum for
the further enrichmentof the Amer
lean plutocracy, will be restored;
the reign of the Money Power will
be permanently established, and
under force bills and other FEEDER
al election machinery the sover-
eighty of the States will be tram
| pied in the dust.
Which of these two evils is the
lesser? A widespread financial
disaster will be q terrible calamity.
Thousands upon thousands of peo-
pie will be ruined; our industries
and trade will be stricken down;
suffering and sorrow will prevail
on all hands. But this is coun-
try of incalculable riches; its nat
ural resources are vast beyond cal
culation or conception, and the
American people are a great and
self-reliant people. Disaster,
though it come like bosom of de-
struction, can be retrieved; the
wrecks may be gathered together
and the edifice Of commerce and
industrial prosperity rebuilt. But
when the Democratic party has
fought it, last fight; when the
constitution has become q dead
letter; the rights of the States de-
stroyed, and the era of force bills
restored, there will be-there can
be-no other outcome than Gen.
tralization and despotism-the vul-
gar, rapacious and relentless rule
of the Plutocracy.
Our esteemed friend says much
about his Democracy, and talks
with the grim ferocity Of a tiger
hunting its prey OF what will befall
the country if he and other free
| silverites fail to commit the party
to the Is to l absurdity and shall
declare for sound money. Where
did Judge Gunby find in all the
gospels the patriarchs, prophets
and law-givers of Democracy any
/ reference to this 16 to PROPOSE.
| ton as a Democratic principle Of
shibolethP We defy the Judge t.
single utterance of jefferson o.
jackson or Benton or Calhoun o.
of any of the founders and leader
of the Democracy which warrants
him in declaring that the coinage
of gold and silver at q ratio of II
to |, or at any other ratio excep
that based on the commercial valu
of the metals, is a great principle
of Democracy.
], We call upon him to point on
in the Democratic platforms from
the organization Of the Democrat