Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1896-08-31

own interest, and then by the heaping
up of fortunes at the expense of labor,
force the working people to turn even
to abominable free trade as a remedy
and elect Clevelands to the white house
to bring on an era of hardship and
soup houses. How long viii. this SON
tinueP
OF two evils choose the least. Which
of the present two party platforms. is
the betterp Protection, with sure par
tlal prosperity after its adoption, and a
good chance for bi metallism with
it, or sure BIZ metallism, with ruin
Gus free trade with it, and
the consequent panicky revulsion
that must take place in transition To
republicans there can be but one an.
wer to this question. II in a state,
they should vote for Mckinley, for al
heart he is not a gold standard man /;
If in a Territory, they should adopt and
vote for H RIGHT PLATFORM-that Is,
ssProtection, Bi-metallism and State
hood" That was our platform in 1892,
and conditions since then have not
made it necessary to make any change.
There are, l believe, in this Territory
hundreds Of republicans who believe,
as l do, and who, if any other plat
form is adopted, will be forced to take
but a neutral part in our fail cam
paign. In the Mexican counties, BIZ
metallism is not very well understood
by our fellow part:sans, protection be.
ing the one thing they understand and
will vote for, SO this platform a do
us no harm there, and IN the s~o-called
American counties, no platform will
succeed without a bi-metallic plank.
B%i-metallism is scientifically right,
and as inherently moral as was the
abolition of slavery, and 1t Is bound to
sucoeed. the only question being how
to bring it about with the least Injury
to the country. Our nation has. been
blinded to its own interests. At Eng
lands command, it produces on a gold
basis and sells in competition with sill
yer standard countries. 1t produces
nearly all the silver of the world and
sends it over to London as a commod.
ity at 6S cents an ounce for England to
trade off at par with Oriental countries.
All the silver of the world, were it pos
sible to get it to come here annually,
would make but about $2 60 per capita
annually to add to our circulating me-
diEm, and it would, at that rate, take
nearly twenty years to bring our per
capita up where wise men say 1t be-
longs. With our minis open to silver,
the supply Of silver sent to London
would cease, and the Oriental demand
still continuing, the price would go up
in the London market to par. Coined
silver here, not being international,
must be- left here for goods bought,
and so our export trade would boom
like a s~ky.rocket, while at the same
time the export trade of Europe would
fall off so shockiDgly as to create an
appalling panic there. and those gov
ernments would fall over each other in
together their governing bodies
to pass ~free-coinage acts to save them
from destruction.
How the American people a fail to
see this, Is iDcomprehensible.
But for us to adopt bi-metallisn and
free trade at the same time, would be
like taking food and poison, the good
of one would be neutraliZed by the
evil Of the other. If the democratic
platform had been as it was first pub.
lished in the Territory-that is, with a
plank on wool in it, in addition
to the promise to admit us to statehood,
would have been without wind in
our sails, for then 1t would have been
just what we want, both here and in
The nation, but it turns out that the
good thing it contains is neutral
Ized by its free.trade plank, or tariff
Tor revenue, which is the anne thing.
l know that some of our whipper-
snapper, pretended republican politi-
who never have an opinion of
heir own, and who have an eye on the
pie counter, will turn up their subservi-
,nt noses at such views as here ex-
pressed. and will yelp at the heels of all
hose who believe as / do, and say that |
should be read out Of the party.
Well, let them yelp! When they at
empt any such procedure, they may
to show their credentials, and be
Isked to define republicanism, and be
orced to tell us why what was standard
epublicanism in 1892 is not so still!
Jan they do itF
These buried views are submitted to
ny fellow citizens to be elaborated in
heir own intelligent minds, because
pace will not permit that to be done
lere. Respectfully,
RERNARD g R0DEy