Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-06-23
WILLIAM c. WHITNEY.

ara now many eastern Democrats VINO
can do much more than l can for the
marty. shall not assume any position
0f leadership. My decision 10 stay was
simply based on the duty Of every person
who believes in the party for It's pm
cIplcs. 70 stay by and lend his ald' anu
take his chances when the great cIisl9
as upon the Democratic party u"u9
mental differences OF principle exist lnslue
the party, marked almost by sec''Oi'"i
lines. a..
..The great question. TO my mind, Is
whether the party meets in convention
now as in 1850. with issues and dlHeIences
chat are for the moment irreconclaDie
For the past fifteen years leaders OF pun
u, opinion in the South and west hAVe
laen advocating as the great remedy LOT
existing ills the free coinage or sHNei az
Is 10 J. with or without the co-operauoii
Of other nations. ,.o~o
IL has come TO be believed IN there'
.,,,tto generally and conscienuously. a
largo majority or the delegates 10 the
coming Democratic convention have Deeh
elected by the people for the purpose oil
incorporating that doctrine into the pl9'-
form OF the Democratic party.
AS \ DEMOCRATIC TENET.
com neonle on the other hand. entirely
almost universally. that it Will bring
General ruin 10 tho business and pros
peritv OF the country. 1t Is deemed q
now doctrine when proposed TO be IN
c,rporated into the platform OF the ma
tiooal Democracy II Is true that IN 10
previous platform Of the party can IL spe-
officially be found. Consequently no pai ~
obligations heretofore assumed oDAhe
then TO subscribe 10 IL. Under these CIR
cumstances, n the results OF the DeinO-
cratic convention should be 10 estaollsh
as the issue Of this campaign the itee
coinage OF silver at ratio or 10 10 j. III
dependvnt Of other nations IN tne IN
taneitv Of feeling likely 20 arise 1t is 10
,..eeriouslv apprchended that a disruption
of the Democratic party might occur.
certainly. no substantial following could
1.. secured for the doctrine among east
,rr Democrats They might not vote the
Republican ticket for other reasons 'pe-
Neving that the Republican party stanus
Tor other issues that arc detrimental 10
the country. but the Democrats IN the
East would not. in my opinion vote ior
10.
s-This movement for free coinage pur-
ports 20 have for rs object the estapilsh-
ment and maintenance OF gold ana siiVeI
ms the money OF the country upon equal
purchasing power IT, by the proposed
measure. that object could be secured
there would be no substantial disagree
mont In the party Every national Demo-
cratic platform that has heretofore spoken
uuon the subject has declared LOT
both gold and silver money. 1t IS our
traditional policy. But the maintenance
or the double standard at the present time
is not "a question Of desre II IS "a question
Of ability. The commercial value or SILVER
has declined greatly in the markets OF the
world
"Whatover tho causes and whoever is
10 blame the fact Is that silver has de-
cuned. and free coinage now at 10 TO 1 Is
the same as our Offering for all the silver
I'm the world about twice what II IS SELL
ing for In the market. international eX-
changes have 70 be- paid In gold. And II
would seem plain that II we, under THESE
conditions. open our minis 10 the lFee
coinage OF silver ard gold at a ratio Of
comparative value which is largely az
variance with the commercial value OF the
two metals. we must take the entire
silver surplus ourselves. maintain IT'S
parity with gold. or else we shall 50 10
silver basis
FRANCES EXPERIMENT.
'France In 1873 closed her minis against
silver and abandoned this experiment
deeming herself unequal TO the task alone.
aud az that time II was much less DIM
cult. for silver was then at par with gold
al the ratio IN use. and even England 5
minis in India were open tothe free coin
age Of silver. II the experiment OF MAIN
tanning the parity Of the two metals al a
coinage standard was difficult. then It
would seem 10 be positively hopeless now
without international agreement. Ger
many. France. Belgium. Italy. and Aus
tria believe I'm double standard, and de-
sire 20 establish a. but no one, two. or
three OF them deem themselves able 20
maintain the double standard, even with
the cooperation Of the United states. III
the result OF the measures proposed would
be to carry us 20 a silver basis. 1; ~ not
felt here that such "a proposal would be