The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-09-09


ntr 1rpon an xtndd discussion at this
time beg TO answer the committee
that I accept the nomination rendered
nv them on behalf of the Silver party.
n the spirit in which that nomination
6s presented. can appreciate the feel
mo which animated those who assent
hles5 i'm that convention, | can appre-
c;ate the hesitation with which those
assembled there turned their backs
unon the party with which they had
been associated,
Il know something of the strength
of PARTY ties. and because | was in
nosition where / looked forward to
possibility of like action on my own
part. / can appreciate the depths of
conviction that led them to place the
interests of their country above the
welfare of their party. More than
wear ago when we were engaged in
struggle to bring the Democratic par
tx to an endorsement of free coinage,
the question was put to me whether, in
case of failure, I would support the
Democratic nominee if he were gold
standard advocate running upon gold
standard platform. / never believed
that such action was probable in the
Democratic party then, but when those
who questioned me were not content
with probabilities and asked again
whether in that event, | would supports
the nominee said as you will rermem-
Der that under no circumstances would
my vote be given to a man who would,
in the executive Office. use his infiu-
ence to fasten the gold standard upon
the American people.
AN ENEMY OF MANKIND.
81 stood where the members of that
Silver convention stood, and like them
would rather have the approval of my
conscience than the approval of all the
world. My convictions upon this sub
iect are not shallow ones. / may be
| in error-none of us can claim infalli-
bility-but / believe that che gold
standard is a conspiracy against the
| human race
81 would no sooner join the ranks of
| those whose purpose it is to fasten
| that upon the American people than
| TO enlist in any army that was march
| ing to attack my home and destroy my
| family. I say, therefore, that | can APP
| preeiate the spirit which animated
| those who have just rendered me this
| second nomination. Ipledge them that
| If elected they shall never have cause to
/ accuse me of being false to that plat
/ form.
My friends, when / declared that /
| would not support gold standard can
| didate I was standing upon the record
| of the Democratic party. was de-
| Tending its principles as well as the
| interests of the country at large.
| WHERE DOES M,KINIFY STAND?
| sAnd when the Republicans, as
| sembeld in convention at st. Louis, re-
| fused to worship the golden image
| which their party had set up, they were
i defending the history of the Republican
| party. The Republican platform of
| 1883 denounced the Democratic admin
| istration for having attempted to de-
/ grade silver. And in 1891, on the 18th
| day of February, in Memorial Hall, at
| Toledo, Ohio, at the Lincoln Day BAN
| quet, the present candidate for Presi-
| dent upon the Republican ticket used
| the words which / shall now read TO
| you. / have found these words pub
| lished in a Toledo paper, and they have
been published so long without COR
rection that we may safely assume
that he was correctly reported. If he
| hereafter denies the correctness of this
report / shall hasten to do him justice
by retraeting these words. These are
| the words which ne is said TO have used:
During all of Grover Cleveland's years
at the head of the government he was
dishonoring one of our precious metals,
one of our own great products, dis
crediting silver and enhancing the
price of gold. He endeavored even be-
fore his Inauguration TO office to stop
the coinage of silver dollars and after
wards and to the end of his admins
tration persistently used his power to
that end. He was determined to con-
tract the circulating medium, to de-
monetize one of the coins of commerce,
limit the volume of money among the
people, make money scarce and there
fore dear. He would have increased
the value of money and diminished the
value of everything else-money the
master, everything else the servant
Following these same lines the Re-
publican convention in 1892 declared at
Minneapolis that the American people
from tradition and interest were in
favor of bimetallism. That is the lam
gHage in 1S92-that the American peo-
pie from tradition and interest are in
favor of bi-metallism. Have tradi-
tions changed in four years? Have in
terests changed in four years? No. my
friends, and yet forgetting the plat
form of 1888, forgetting the denuncia-
ton uttered by their distinguished
leader in 1891, forgetting the platform
of 1892, the Republican party in con-
vention assembled, declared that the
American people must forego the ad-
vantages of the bi-metallic system to
which tradition and interest endeared
them until foreign nations should
bring those advantages to them. 1t
is not strange that men who had looked
for bi-metallism in the Republican
party should have given UP hope and
turned elsewhere for relief
s'The Republicans can not be criti-
cised for leaving the Republican par
ty. They have done what every Amer
lean citizen has a right to do. They
have done better than our Democratic