Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-04-23
THE MASSACHUSETTS DEMOCRATS.

The state OF Massachusetts, Is so nope
lesaly Republican that tho Democrats
there can, without danger. take the risK
Of declaring in favor of any policy whieh
the state Democratic organizations or the
state Democratic conventions may think
proper 70 give to the breeze. 1t used 10
be said In ante-beiium days that the
Democratic party was kept small enough
IN Massachusetts to have but Few
leaders to give the offices 10. Beast But
Ter. or General b. +. Butler, was ono Oh
the delegates TO the Democratic National
Convention of 1860 and approved Of what
was done in that body There was
thorough accord between General Butler
and the men who went out OF the regular
Democratic National Convention into tho
Breckenridge convention. In fact, Gene
raj Butler himself went into the Breck-
inridge secession convention. The Mas
sachusetts Democrats Of to-day are as
bold as they were in 1860; and in their
platform adopted in Boston on TUESDAY
last formulated creed which VIII not
be accepted as expressing the views OF
the whole Democracy Of the country.
Here. for instance, is the currency plank
OF that platform:
1t gives the administration OF President
Cleveland during both terms an emphatic
endorsement, and says:
believing that the true interests OF
the people require that the earnings OF
trade and the wages of labor be paid I'D
money that is intrinsically worth in all
the markets of the world what II purports
% be worth, we demand the maintenance
OF the existing gold standard or Naiue,
and that the government shali Keep an
its obligations at all times redeemaDie
and payable in gold, and we oppose the
free coinage of silver, and any further
purchase OF silver bullion, or the coinage
thereof, on government account"
This plank will be in substance the cur
rency plank of the Democratic National
Convention, unless, as Mr.. Brice predicts,
the silver question shall be dropped
from the Democratic National Convention.
Other planks In the Massachusetts
Democratic platform demand the retire
ment of the legal-tender notes. favor
free raw materials and the suppression
of trusts. and sympathize with CUBA
The Monroe doctrine is endorsed, and
also Cleveland's Venezuelan policy.
The platform under consideration also
contains the following plank:
I'VE denounce the cowardly policy Of
the Republican party In coquetting with
secret political organization, and by
innuendoes and platitudes in its plat
forms endeavoring to conciliate men
whose avowed object Is TO prevent a
large number Of the citizens of this re-
public from exercising their constitutional
rights. The Democratic party Of Massa-
chusetts adheres to the principles OF our
Constitution and the Massachusetts Bill
Of Rights, pledges itself to equal rights,
equal privileges, and equal burdens. and
declares that every denomination whose
members demean themselves peaceably
and as good citizens shall be equally
under the protection Of the law; that no
subordination of any one sect or denomi-
nation to another shall ever be estab-
lished by law, and that 1t is the absolute
right of every citizen to worship God as
his conscience dictates"
This is u hit at the American Protec-
tive Association.