The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-08-10
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY M THE
MONEY QUESTION.

R0& -,
platform u~tterances. The Democratic
party treats it's platforms as mere traps
to catch votes, while the Republican
party treats them as real declarations
Of principle. One regards its platforms
as made for campaign purposes only,
while the other regards them as binding
pledges to the people. This gives the
Democratic party the advantage Of be-
ing able to act in any given situation
without regard to political consistency,
but it ought to insure for the Republican
party a much higher degree Of popular
respect and confidence.
Keeping in mind the habit of the Re-
publican party to regard political con-
sistency as a virtue and its platform
utterances as pledges to the people, it
Is well enough to see how 1t stands on
the money question. Its present attitude
on the question might be inferred from
its past record. 1t is p~re-eminently the
party of honest money. The instincts
and traditions OF the party are such that
Ii can hardly go wrong on any phase or
the money question. and this has been
demonstrated so often that conservative
Democrats have come to look to 1T as the
only party that can safely be trusted to
deal with the question Keeping this in
mind, as well as the Republican habit of
standing by platform declarations, let
us see what are it's latest declarations on
the money question.
Not to go further back than 1892. the
Republican national convention of that
year declared that the Republican party
demands the use of both gold and silver
as standard money, with such ~restric-
tons and under such provisions. to be
determined by legislation, as will secure
the maintenance of the parity of values
Of the two metals. so that the purchasing
and d~ebt-paying power of the dollar,
whether Of silver. gold or paper. shall be
at all times equal" The basic idea of
this declaration is the maintenance of
the parity of values between gold. silver
and paper money. 1t favors the use of
both gold and silver, but only under
such legislative restrictions as will Sc
cure and maintain equality of values be-
tween the two metals. In other words,
the declaration is distinctly in favor of
honest money. In addition to this it de-
clared that 1--WE commend the wise and
patriotic steps already taken by our gov
eminent to secure an international con-
ference to adopt such measures as will
insure a parity of value between gold
and silver for use as nor throughout
the world This made the idea of an
international conference secondary to
that Of parity of value between gold n
idea, and an international agreement
subsidiary thereto, the latter important
only as an aid to the former.
The Republican national platform of
1892 would be binding on the party I'M
til another national convention shall
speak, ever IL there were no later plat
form declarations to the same effect.
But there are mar such. The year 1894
was a year Of Republican victories.
They carried every Northern State and
elected more Congressman in the border
States than ever before. They wiped
out a large Democratic majority in Con-
gress and replaced it with a large Re-
publican majority. 1t is worth while to
inquire what the Republican State con-
ventions sale on the money question in
this year of Republican victories. 1894,
That Of New York declared that 1--WE
favor an honest dollar and oppose any
effort, whether by the removal Of the tax
on State bank issues or the free coinage
Of silver, to lower our currency stand
ard, and we favor an international agree
ment which shall result in the use Of
both gold and silver as a circulating me-
dunn" The Republicans of Indiana de-
clared in favor OF "a currency composed
of gold, silver and paper readily con-
vertible at a fixed standard of value"
and In favor Of discriminating tariff du-
ties against such foreign countries as
agreement. The Republicans Of Illinois
declared that I'VE favor bimetallism and
believe in the use of gold and silver as
money upon a parity Of values" The
Iowa convention declared that I'VE ad-
here to the declaration of the national
Republican ps rty in 1892, upon it's none
tary policy The Republicans Of Con-
nectlcuI Qec1aIeQ tldl ALlcTicdn sIlNtr
as well as American gold, should be used
as standard money under such internd-
tional agreements as will insure the
| maintenance of a parity Of values"
Delaware: WE favor bimetallism and
demand the use of both gold and silver
as standard money at such ratio and un-
der such conditions as shall be fixed by
| international agreement" Wisconsin:
1--WE are unalterably opposed to any
| scheme that will give to this country a
debased or deprecated currency. We Ia
vor the use OF silver as a currency TO
the extent only that 1t can be circulated
on a parity with gold" Rhode Island;
I'VE believe that every dollar should be
of equal purchasing power, and that the
money of the greatest commercial ma
ton of the world should not be inferior
to that of other commercial nations
Nebraska: while we favor bimetallism
n demand the use Of both gold and
silver standard money we insist that
the parity of the value of the two metals
be maintained" The Republican con-
vention of Kansas quoted and adopted
the declarations of the national conven.
ton. The Republicans OF North Dakota
demanded the coinage of silver, with