The American guide., 1896-09-12
wHITELAw RElo's WARNING.
The New York Editors Letter to the
Ohio Editors


Tribune, to Col. r. b, Brown, presi-
dent Of the Ohio Republican Editorial
association:
Camp Wild Air, Upper st. Regis. Sept
4-R. H. Brown. President Ohio Repub-
lican Editorial Association. Courier ONCE,
GAINESVILLE. o.-Dear Sir: The remem-
brance OF my birthright among you touches
me and | am grateful to the Ohio repub-
llcan editors for 1t, much more grateful.
In fact. than for your friendly persistence
In requiring a letter when you found ]
could not come to make speech. MY
friend, Charles Emory Smith, will do the
latter 80 acceptably that you Will need
neither from me.
I'VE have had the four years In clover
which our friends, the enemy. promised us
in 1899. The people are quite satisfied that
they have had enough OF 1t. on the old
lines IKE campaign was already won.
Voters wero absolutely resolved to go back
to the point where they turned off, four
years ago, and get into the path again,
which from 1855 to 1892 had led them to
the greatest and most widely dinused pros
perity this country ever enjoyed. Assert
Ing tho power OF the common people. they
put forward as their candidate the man
whose very name meant to everyone of
them the policy of those four prosperous
years, and the work was practically done,
Then burst out the Adullamites. Every
unthlnklng or inscriptions man who was
In distress. and everyone who was In debt.
and everyone who was discontented, gath
cred themselves together not unto David,
alasi But unto Altgeld. They captured
the national convention OF a historic par
ty and disgraced 1t and Inundated the
country by asking the American people
to vote that they would not obey the
eighth commandment.
Now, when question Is submitted 10
popular vote people must infer that there
are two sides to IT, And that they have a
right to vote on whichever side their judg
ment or their interest incllnos. But there
are no two sides to the moral law No
man. no party. has right to put the
eighth commandment to popular vote,
to decide through an expression Of popular
desires at the polls whether this nation
snall cheat lis creditors by paying It's debts
at the rate OF 53 cents on the dollar and
whether every private debtor shall be at
liberty to cheat TO the same extent the
man who has trusted him. To propose
such u vote and such a decision Is itself a
crime. But having proposed 1t, the plain
people OF the country Will sustain the
great commandment by vote which will
surprise those who would break 1t,
II hope you Ohio editors will deal with
this matter In STRAIGHTFORWARD fashion and
call u spade a spade. Many OF our oppo-
nents are as sincere us we are and moan
to he as honest. but the thing they have
done Is the wickcdest and most immoral
public act since secession. To pay the
national debt in silver; to pay private
debts In silver; to nullify and declare In
valid any contract. however freely and
honestly entered into. for paying gold. and
to turn b3 cents worth of silver into q
dollar at our mlnts as often and as long
as any silver mine owners nt home or any
| vcr-burdened Chinamnr or llindoo from
Asia chooses to bring II to u.s.: the effect
OF all this Is simple robbery. To ask inteli-
| gent and honest men to vote for II Is 10
insult them. as well as to declare thu. The
American people have the right to IT.
fsno- - 6e t,fe I,oiss ARD -, ~
tho mofss S1kf they want to.
Dishonesty never pays There are .
dozen ways OF proving II In this case.
But nfst make the moral nature OF the
proposals clear to the average voter. and
the verdict this honest and Christian ma
tion will give than there is of to-morrow's
sunrlse.
Then. n you like. II may be well 10 go
further and show, for instance. hat a
real nation. not u mere colony or isolated
province. cannot get on with what our New
York candidate for governor called q cur
rcncy that can't stand salt water. We
sell now more than 10 times as much OF
our products to gold countries as we do
to silver countries. DO we want to take the
pay for this wheat. beef. pork, cotton,
corn, ETC., not as now, In gold or Its eQulva-
lent, but In silver bullion. to be given free
coinage at our mints7 This becomes a
question. not no much OF paying silver,
but OF taking silver.
"Is the great American republic to seek
to hold toward all Europe such financial
relation as India now holds toward Eng
land, or a worse ono7 Surely fresh water
currency is only 1T for a people content
with fresh water commerce.
"You can make free silver men see, from
tho financial history OF every nation that
ever tried II. that while making more
money Initiates prices II works both WAYS
u raises prices for what they have to buy,
as we'll as for what they have to sell. and
is apt TO raise the former first and highest
The grocer raises his figures long before
tho day laborer can have his wages ad-
vanccd, and the laborer never really
catcher w untll the inevitable crash comes
and both tuniil lc together, Cheap money
never did chcal en- the necessities of llfo,
hut II cheapcns the men, Look at Mexico,
China and India.
"silycr men can be made to see, too. that
making more money does not put II In
their pockets The bullion owner may get
n hundred times more silver than is now
stamped into dollars, but he Will not be
amy more willing to give the wheat raiser
a single one OF them without getting n
round leo cents worth OF wheat for H. An
ignorant voter thinks that when moro
metal IL stamped ut the mint he can somc-
how get dollar for less than what tho
open market calls 100 cents In value. The
real authors OF this movement have
hu th..s mi IL - ~
some way Of paying something with moth
Ing. II Ia merely the old unlimited green
back nat money craze In new form,
''ft has been tried ut one time or another
by nearly every nation and has always
led to ruin It met It's flrst great defeat
with us In an Ohio campaign. led by an
Ohio soldier whom that campaign made
president. This time It will be finally
crushed under another Ohio soldier who
will become president by the largest pop
ular majority OF this generation. Vermont
points the way.
Next to tho attack on the eighth com
mnndmcnt is tho attack by our oppo-
pents on the constitution and courts OF
the United States. The protest against the
uso OF constitutional power for the sup
preston OF riot. the proposal 10 Pack the
supreme court, the attempt to destroy the
validity OF contracts-these are not mere
dcma gogisms, or even intelligent COM
munism; they are tho formal naturalist
tion In the United States OF Russian an
archy. Little better Ia the demand that
every thrifty. economical and prosperous
citixcn shall be Disseminated against and
taxed not merely once, like othvr people.
but twice, frst on what he has and thcn
on what II earns Let us he as consldcrato
as you please OF our errins countrymen
who have been honestly misled. but let
us indulge In no disgulses as TO the unps-
trlotic, un-Amcrican and revolutionary
character OF this whole programme.
"Thorc has been an lll-eonsidered appeal
TO republicans to keep our distinctive
principles out OF sight. In view OF the ma
tlonal danger from these monstrous pro-
posals. But we cannot, n we would, The
government Is without revenue for It's cur
rent oxpenses II must raise more. W II
would not 10 into bankruptcy, our way