Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1896-03-20

Cllell dCtcl lAcu ny NA6Ol anu Nt4-
you may say with all the clear en-
phasis that English is capable OF that
am not and will not be a candidate
for the Presidential nomination at Chi
cago: nor will my name be placed be-
fore the Democratic convention he
said.
Continuing on the general condition
of the Democratic party, Governor
Campbell said:
Every true Democrat should, how
ever. rally at this crisis about the stand
ard Of the party. This talk OF posi-
BILE split should cease. These will be
trying times for the Democracy. The
party has met three bitter defeats since
the victories of 1892. 1t is just as well
not to ask why, or blow in the asnes
of the past for reasons now. Those de-
feats have torn and strained and weak
ened us. If they are to be followed by
a split in the conventions and deseruons
at the polls. then are the days OF De-
mocracy numbered and the era is at
hand. I say it with firmness, Tor II is
my unqualified belief that should the
party be split at the Chicago convention
the party has met its death. 1t IS lot
that reason that 1 exhOrt every true
man of the faith TO stand by the Democ-
racy through the next campaign. we
may fail. but let us fail and fall togeth-
er. Do not let us annihilate the party
in advance by the suicide of a split.
A BOLTER is A TRAITOR.
every man who goes as delegate
to the convention should go there
pied ged to himself to support the can
didate and accept the platform OF that
convention. No matter who may be
named to make the canvass, no matter
what the platform may contain, they
should be accepted. and the only hope OF
party continuation lies in their ac-
ceDtance. A delegate who goes to Chi
cagO with the intention to stay If the
majority agrees with him and accept
his candidate or make his platform,
whether on finance. tariff, or what else,
and who means TO bolt If his notion OF
men and measures is voted down, Is
traitor in advance. He has no busi-
ness in the convention. He should stay
at home.
81 prescribe no medicine I will not
take. For myself, l will say that what
ever the Chicago platform, and who
ever the candidates, I will support both
with heart and strength and vote the
ticket without a mark. l have my
views on finance as full and clear as any
man. vet | say to you that if next sum-
mer's Democratic convention declares
for gold mOnOmetallism and against
silver in any form for all time, and
then names an utter gold bug as the
candidate for the Presidency, will give
nv full and faithful support TO the
ticket and do my best to put it through.
IF. on the other hand, the platform
declares for Independent free silver
coinage. 16 to l. silver monometallism,
if YOU please. and the utter death of
gold as a money metal and selects can
didates to correspond yet | will give
my heartiest support to the ticket and
work with zeal and ardOr to secure a
victory. Yet I believe both of these
proposals of finance would be wrong.
do not agree with either. But if the
party is to live. if it is ever to see
national success again. men must learn
that minOrities must yield to majorities
and that the treason Of bolt and split
must be done away with.
THE WINGS DIED FOR LESS.
Take the situation at Frankfort as
a sample. 1 do not agree with Black
burn. we will say, in his views on
finance. But had I been a Democrat
in the Kentucky Legislature. l would
have voted for him. And those Dem
ocrats who refused to vote for Black
burn after he was made the caucus
and therefore the party nominee, to put
it mildly did wrong and mistook their
mission nightly. Ii the same tactics
are to obtain at Chicago that were fash
ionable with certain sO-called Demo-
Gratis at Frankfort, if men are to bolt,
if split is to follow because the candi-
date or the platform does not meet the
hopes of some hot minority, whether it
be a gold or silver minority, the de-
struction of the party has come.
ct was born a Whig and raised a Re
publican. and became a Democrat with
nv ewes open. and with reasons for the
hope within me. I became a Democrat
because / believed. and still believe.
that it is the party of the common peO-
ple. as against a party of an aristocracy,
and it has within its keeping the ark
of political covenant which guarantees
to this people of this country the rights
and liberties granted by the Constitu-
ton. The Democratic party is the
party of the people as against the Re-
publican. the party of privileges, and
the Populist the party of Anarchy And
it is this which has preserved the Dem
ocratic party. Its war record was and
is not to be defended. 1t would have
killed any other party The Wings
died for less. Yet because it was the
party Of the people, for the people, by
the people, the people forgave it the
worse than mistakes of the first half
of the sixties. And now thirty years
after the war. if the members of the
party Will only be true to themselves,
whether we win next fall or not, there
is still a future of success and victory
to follow. But bolt or split now and
we are undone for all Tina. The De
mOcracy is destroyed FOREVER, sown
with salt 1t viii live only as mem
CRY like the Wings. the Federalists and
other combinations of a past that is far
or near"