The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1896-08-22
THEY ISSUE A MANIFESTO.

ave, democrats of Lafayette county
Mo-, fully agree and readily admit tina
in mere matters of method and detail
: and especially where unity of action i
requisite for success, the minority of
party should yield a ready and grace
full assent to the opinions and will o
the majority. But in matters of prin
ciple and patriotism we emphatically
deny that the majority has any right tC
coerce the consciences of the minority
or to stihe its sentiments or suppress
their u~tterance.
s%'Inspired by these sentiments anC
believing the time has already come
when we who are still proud to bt
known as Jeffersonian democrats should
take a firm and decided stand in oppo'
sItion to anarchistic and populistiC
dogmas, and all other malodorous
vagaries that have so recently invaded
our noble old party and contaminated
so many of our former loyal co-workers
and political brothers, we hereby asso-
ciate ourselves together for the partic-
ular purpose of stemming the tide OF
these wild decisions and of inducing as
far as possible all good democrats to
stand firm in the faith of nj political
fathers.
eve shall openly and boldly oppose
the election of William J. Bryan, not
on personal grounds, but because he
stands upon, and runs upon, and in
dorses, and is the personal Incarnation
of a platform so utterly bad that it n
not be said to have a SINGLE redeeming
feature, a platform so utterly erratic
that a few years ago no one would have
suspected its American origin, and so
intensely dangerous that the oftener it
is read and more thoroughly it is un-
derstood, the more horror-inspiring it
becomes. The free coinage of silver
plank is assuredly bad enough, in dis
honoring our nation and destroying its
credit, and subjecting it alone to the
disastrous shock that cannot fail to
attend a sudden and unexpected tran
sition from a sound and honest money
basis to a vItiated and deprecated cur
rency.
''But bad as this plank assuredly is,
and hideous as many others are, it and
they are as naught when compared
with that plank inserted at the sugges-
ton of John P. Altgeld, the arch an
archist of Illinois, and freely supported
by his ssgude man Friday" and plant
tool, William j. Stone, of Missouri.
"This plank is intended to rob the
United States courts-our present bull
wark of safety against mobs and mad
men-of their constitutional rights and
powers, and places our business, our
prosperity and our lives, in fact the
whole country with all its interests,
PROSTATE at the feet and subject to the
tender mercies of any mob powerful
enough to resist local and state author
tiles.
GsFor these and other reasons equally
potent, but too numerous to be men
toned in detail, we associate ourselves
together to resist with equal ardor, foes
without and frauds within our noble
old party, and to assist in lifting it
from its present sunken condition"
Did you read itP
You notice it begins with the state
ment that its promulgators are DEMO-
Gratis. They have no more right to
call themselves democrats than has
John Sherman.
We will give our friend, Capt.
Asbury, a new hat if he will show us
one statement in the above platform of
his principles that he ever saw in a
democratic county, state or national
platform.
1.-THE Chicago PLATFORM says this
s'cannot be said TO have a
~redeeming feature" We an
comprehend just what are the prin-
cipIes of the promulgators. Their only
statement is that they are opposed to
in the Chicago platform.
Let's see where this places them.
1st.-As opposed to freedom of
freedom of the press, freedom
Of conscience, the preservation of per-
'onal rights, the equality of all citizens
before the law, and the faithful obser-
rance of constitutional limitations.
2d.--As opposed to religious liberty.
Sd.-As opposed to local self govern
nent, and IN favor of a centralized
government.
4th.-As opposed to a tariff for rev.
,nue only.
5th.-As in favor of the importation !
If pauper labor. /
6th.-As in favor of trusts and pools. !
7th--As opposed to economy in :
and in favor of oppres- !
i've taxation.
sth.-As opposed to liberal pensions
or the Union soldier. :
9th.-As opposed to the admission {
any more territories into statehood. !
10th.-As opposed to the Monroe '
{
The statement don't say what they =
re in favor of, but only that they are
'agin'' the democratic platform in its '
j
Free silver and states rights are so =
'horror-Inspiring'' to them that they !
ave lined themselves up as opposed I
D the whole thing.
The manifesto places these boilers b
only outside of the pale of demo- r
ratio party, but away outside of the a
onstitution. C
They are opposed to free silver, but d
hey don't say what they favor. They J
ave given it out cold, however, that I
lie democratic platform does not con- n
i'm a ''single ~redeeming feature" d
- Y
SELECT STRONG MEN. g.