Delaware gazette and state journal., 1896-07-09
THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM.
How it Presents Itself to the View OF
Leading Newspaper in London.
lOndon Clronicls Jifne 18th.

ventiOn at st. Louis are clear at last.
The Republican party is for honest
money" not the kind of which it has
been wittily said that you do not know
what anybody means by the expression
until you also know what he means by
honesty, and what he means by money
but "honest money" in tho sense in
which all the world understands it
namely, gold standard of value. The
Republican platform only translates
this into the language Of the spread
the present standard Of the most en-
lightened nations of the earth. - Tho
result Is good, and shows that the mass
of public sentiment in one great Amer
lean party is opposed to any wildcat
experimenting with the finances of the
nation, and sees no reason in the fact
that several American States produce
a vast quantity of silver for imposing
this upon the country as standard Of
value, to the ruin Of the international
financial relations of the country. The
platform declares for free and un-
limited coinage of silver" when this
can be done "by international agree
ment between the leading commercial
nations of the world" That Is all
right. We ourselves would agree to
many strange things if their realization
could be postponed until the leading
commercial nations Of the world agree
to the free coinage of silver. The
Kalends will probably be synchronous
with such an epoch. The Stock Ex-
change has already sharply responded
to this dissipation of we'll grounded
fears. .
But though the result is reassuring.
the method by which it has been
reached is most curious. Mr.. Nc
Kinley was chairman of the committee
which produced the tariff bearing his
name. Hence his popularity. which,
apart from his estimable personal
qualities, may be described as acci-
dental. AS soon as it became evident
that he would be strong candidate
for the Presidency. an intense curiosity
was manifested to know where he stood
on the most vital question before the
American people. II we vote for Mr..
Mckinley, they naturally said, are we
voting for gold or siver-for financial
soundness or for quackery? In any
other country in the world candidate
would have been compelled to answer
direct question on this point, even II
it had been addressed to him by merely
private correspondent. But in the
United States not only did Mr.. Nc
Kinley maintain an absolute silence in
spite OF every appeal to him for the
single syllable "gold," but also his
supporters declared that he was per-
fectly right in refusing to commit
himself. The proper time for him to
speak, they solemnly averred, is after
| his nomination. not before That is,
| the people should first choose an in
dividual to exercise authority over
them, and then learn in what di
rection his authority is to be employed.
This is surely reduction to abHurdity
of representative institutions. Months
of discussion, of intrigue, of barter, of
personal encounters, OF feeling the
pulse Of the country, have shown that
the "Silverites" are a minority, and
that the vast financial interests of the
Eastern States are weighty enough to
| carry the day. Then, and then only,
does the Republican party declare that
| it is unalterably opposed" to silver.
If the balance Of popular sentiment
had swung in the opposite direction
| il the silver miners had proved little
more coercive, then the Republican
party would have been unalterably
opposed" to a system Of currency
which-in what we imagine would
have been their worde-is beggaring
the national industries in the interests
of the "gold-bugs" and money
sharks'' of Wall street and Europe.
Americans will not, we are sure, resent
the frankness which leads us to cay
that conclusions on SO vital matter
reached by a process of conviction
analogous to the tossing of coin do
not impress European spectators as
possessing the desirable characteristic
Of finality.
The rest of the Republican platform
only goes to show that the American
nation is wiser than its politicians
We hear, as usual, OF the necessity of
protection against the degradation of
the wage level of other lands. We
know well, of course, that in matters
of legislation the British worker is far
better protected than his American
brother, and that the average of his
well being is at least as high. Before
the obvious purpose of such plank as
that which demands "the opening of
American factories to the free coinage
of American muscle" we can only
maintain an astonished silence. "The
enforcement of the Monroe Doctrine"
leads us to wonder whether any states
men can be found to enforce this much
more strongly than President Cleve-
land and Mr.. Olney have done. "a
vigorous foreign policy" seems like an
echo of Mr.. Blaine from the grave.
The support of the Nicaragua Canal
scheme reminds lis that commission
of expert American engineers has re-
ported adversely to the scheme, from
both practical and financial point
of view. And the denunciation of the
unparalleled incapacity, dishonor and
disaster of the Democratic administra-
tion," from the lips of Hmen who only
waited for the jumping cat" before
declaring in favor OF the free coinage
of silver, proves once more that Re-
publics, whatever may be their vir-
tues, are not necessarily free of the
vice of ingratitude. Two things, how
ever. one nation never understands in
municipalities and nastimes. We
do not comprehend American political
conventions and base ball They dc
not seize the points of our cricket and
our civil service. To us 'the free
coinage of American muscle" is only
describable by their own word, flap
doodle,' while. on their side, as Col.
Wattefson told our readers yester-
day, they "detest our social system
thoroughly" We must content our
selves II we can be at one with Ameri-
cans of all parties In our love of peace
and our heartfelt conviction that the