The Portland daily press., 1896-08-04
PRESERVED FROM REPUTATION.
BOurke COchrane Says Country Must
Be Saved

From the Dishonest Schemes of the Free
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Should Support
| Mckinley and Hobart.
New York, Aug. 3, 1896. -Bourke
Cochran, the silver-tongued orator of the
Democracy, has just returned from Eu.
ope. A Sun reporter has had an inter.
view with him, and the Sun tod
publishes the following:
! @. What is your opinion of the present
political question:
| A. regard it as the grayest In the
history of the country, exceeding in i'm.
portance the crisis Of 1860. The secession
movement was but an attempt to divide
this country between two governments.
! each of them designed to protect property
within the limits of it's jurisdiction. The
movement launched at Chicago is an at
tempt to paralyze industry by using all
the powers OF government to take proper
ty from the hands of those who created
it and place 1T i'll the hands of those who
oovet it. This is question of morals AS
we'll as of politics. No political conven-
tion can issue valid license to commit
offences against morality, and decline
| to follow Mr. Bryan In crusade against
honesty and the right of labor.
z. do you mean that you will actively
oppose the Democratic party or restrain
from active support of ita
A. In contest for the existence Of
civilization, no man can remain neutral.
whoever does not support the forces of
order aids the forces of disorder. If can
do anything to thwart the silver move
ment, the success of which regard as q
calamity, shall certainly do ID.
@, What do you think of Tammany.s
action in indorsing the ticketP
A. simply cannot understand it.
They strongly opposed the platform at
Onloago on the ground that it was an as
sault on the integrity of the nation. They
decline TO ratify it even now, which
shows they have not changed their opin-
ion OF it. But they have Endorsed the
candidate who stands upon it and whose
election will smean that the platform
which they have themselves denounced
as q singular combination of lunaoy and
yilliany. shall be Incorporated into the
pee.oeI0 A6WS VI ullAh COuuUyY.
SO. Will you support Maj. Mckinley
outright, or do you favor the nomination
or another Democratic ticketf
A l believe that all Democrats who
are SO thoroughly In favor OF sound
money THAT they place the defeat of
bryan above the interests of any organ
lzation should meet in conven-
ton Tor the purpose of considering the
form and method by which they can give
1 the Qr8atA6E aff1ninu To hai IL
For my part, l DO not believe the
nomination of any other candidates for
President and Vice President however
eminent and deserving they might be
personally or politically, would serve
any useful purpose. Nobody believes
they could be elected, and any Democrat
whose hostility to silver would not allow
MIN to support either Bryan or Mckinley
could show his Opposition to both by
remaining at home on election day quito
as we'll as by voting for a third ticket. 1t
would be more convenient to himself in
d1yidaally and would not create visible
separation between himself and his party
organization.
Nevertheless, it is very important in o
movement OF this character, that men
intending to rupture the party ties of
lifetime should be sustained by sense
OF association among themselves That
end could be attained by the adoption of
a platform declaring for sound money !;
against extrayagans appropriations; in
FAVOR OF economical administration of
every department of tho government, ,
sarln Tor revenue only and ample enough
Tor That purpose; against the paternalism
OF the Republican party, and the populis-
tic socialism of both the Chicago and st.
Louis conventions, and in favor of shat
American liberty which can be main
tanned only by so limiting the power of
the government that it can never inter-
fere with the daily concerns of +, the law
abiding citizens. The plank Of pressing
Importance in such a platform ia. OF
course, the currency plank.
Now, the mere election of Mckinley
will be- the defeat of the free silver move
ment. The obvious spolioy, then, would
be to indorse the Mckinley electors. and
thus secure the immediate success of the
main feature of the platform. The
Democrats will have secured the victory
of their financial ideas, but can begin on
position to the Repuplican party the day
after election. What is needed, there
fore. is not a new ticket, but new plat
form, which will declare in unmistakabl
language the cardinal features of the
party faith, and which, while indorsine
Mckinley electors, will provide for q
really Democratic opposition to the Mo-
Kinley administration during the period
VI lto OAloiCAOC.
Q. What is your opinion Of the ulti-
mate outlook
A. Everything depends on the manner
in which this campaign is waged. To
my mind there is but one test of pros
perity which can be applied to country,
and that is the rate OF wages paid to
labor. There can be no prosperity where
low wages are paid. There can be- no
distress whore the rate of wages is high.
1t can easily be demonstrated that this
whole free silver movement is oonspira-
cy against wages, aud il the campaign is
fought on this lire, I have nc doubt that
every northern state-that7ia to say every
state of the Union in which : 1t is practi.
cableH to hold free eleotion-will be
carried by the intelligence and morality
of the American people against the mon
strous propositions submitted to them by
the COMMITTEES which nominated Mr..
Bryan for the presidency.