River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1896-10-15
RINGING WORDS.
Archbishop Irelands Note of
Warning TO Patriots.
The Noted Churchman Denounces the
Chicago Platform and the Utterances
of Its Expounders as Menace
TO the Nation.

The Noted Churchman Denounces this
Chicago Platform and the Utterances
of Its Expounders as n Menace
TO the Nation.
ST. Paul, Mimi, Oct. 12.-In reply 10 a
letter of the BUSINESS men OF the Ca III
'lic churches of this city. Archbishop
Ireland Sunday night gave ont letter
in which he gives his reasons why ne is
opposed to the Chicago platform. The
letter of his constituents is an appeal
for light uEoE the duties of the hour,
and asks for the archoishoP's calm and
honest convictions on the issues of the
day. A synopsis of the letter follows:
The archbishop says he is not unwilling
In the present crisis to speak for the In
tegrity of the nation, for the necessity OF
the people, for the honor of America and
the permanency of free institutions. He
says he is a citizen of the country. con-
cerned I'm the interests of the nation. and
subject to all the responsibilities of citi-
zenship, and to be silent when words OF
his might be of some profit would be cow
ardice and a crime. He Is not unmindful
OF the objection against the churchman
speaking on matters which have entered
the arena OF politics lest his influence as
promote the interests of a political party
He might reply that there are occasions
when a political platform means disaster
TO the country. when politics are closely
connected with morals or religion, and
upon those occasions the churchman must
he patriot. without allowing a moments
thought to considerations of expediency
and must take I'm hand the moral or re-
ligious issue, even If II be vested in tbs
garment OF politics.
In the present instance he seeks no ex
cusc of this kind He speaks entirely rs
the citizen, without warrant from his &C.
clesia stical position. He respects thosS
who differ with him, and impeaches neither
their good faith nor their honor. He ID
dealing not with men. but with principles
and movements. He stands bv the plat
form and candidates of the republican
convention. and opposes the platform and
candidates of the democratic convention
at Chicago. He declares that. the days
of the civil war excepted, at no time ma
so great a peril threatened the country as
that involved in the present political cam
paign.
The silver question. he says, has It's i'm
portance, but is of minor Importance In
the presence OF other questions brought
into the movement which had its express
sion in the Chicago convention. and which
now seeks by means of popular suffrage
to enthrone itself in the capital of the
nation, and the logical effect of which IL
revolution II is secession-the secession
of 1861, which was believed to have been
consigned to eternal death at Appomattox,
but which again demands recognition from
the American people.
The archbishop says that the appeals oil
the party orators to the common people,;
to the ''laborer:" to the poor and down
trodden," and their denunciation of 'plu-
tocrats," corporations, money grab
bers" and bankers cannot be construed
70 rla1
against class. II is the international OF
Europe now seeking q foothold in America
1t is the war of the rroletariat against the
property holder. He warns the principals
of the movement to beware lest they light
torches which, borne In the hands of reck-
less men, may light up In this country the
iivid fires of commune. He says there
may be room in some things for peaceful
amelioration through well-informed pub
lie opinion and orderly legislation, but class
hatred and passion never led to aught but
general misery and suffering. The first
condition of prosperity to any and all
classes of the people is peaceful common
wealth and assured social order
The declaration in the Chicago platform
against federal Interference in local az
fairs. he declares, can have no other mean
ing II is the old secession doctrine tina;
the states are independent of the national
government: 1t is the annulment of the
union; IL is a notice served upon the Amer
lean flag that outside the District of Co
lumbia it is without power of self-assertior
or self defense. The archbishop quotes
from the speech of Senator Tillman before
the Chicago convention, saying that he was
from the home of secession" and that
this was "a sectional issue and IL will pre-
VAIL" and says that this speaker recog-
n.zed the significance of this declaratio
of the platform and voiced its spirit. II
was fitting that a speaker with such O
uh hA he caaV7sa fFw~a -
South Carolina. which state, he says, has
thrice spoken for secesson-when II passed
in 1882 the notification laws, when in 1861
IL fired on Fort Sumter, and when in 1896
1t cries out "a sectional issue and it will
prevail"
threat against the supreris court the Chi
cago platform threatens the country with
destruction of social order, with lawless-
ness and with anarchy. In our courts is
the personification of law and order. and
in prompt obedience to them lies the safety
of our free institutions, and the objection
in the platform Ito government by injunc-
tion," and the reference to the supreme
court "as now constituted" he declares
contains 4 threat TO deprive the courts OF
their power i'm favor of mobs bent on riot.
ing and destruction of property. Put. as
far as II is possible by human ingenuity
outside of partisan politics. independent OF
political influences, through their life
tenure of Office the judges of the supreme
court rule congress. the president, state
and nation, and expound the law in all
it's infieXibility, and every citizen, no mat
ter who, must yield to it. Now a conven.
ton speaks of the supreme court las II
may hereafter be constituted" intimatins
Enthusiastically the intention of the party.
If successful at the polls, to constitute the
court by popular election of judges, by
shortening their term Of Office or by the use
of other methods to make il insensible tc
the stern voice of law and responsive tc
the whims of political parties.
On the monetary question, which he pro.
paign, the archbishop says that the free
emily OF other nations into dollars which
should be made legal tender viii disturb
the entire business of the country and
bring upon it a financial depression far
beyond anything we are now experiencing.
Referring to the pamphlet of Archbishop
Walsh, of Dublin, on "Bimetallism, he
says it has no bearing upon the situs lion In
America. He discusses bimetallism We.
monometallism, and that from only one
point of view-the effect of recommendation
upon the farmers contracts under the land
pur base acts in ireland. Quoting Arch
bisl ID Walsh's statements that India wa :
unable to keep up silver currency inde-
pendently of European nations, and that IL
is the silver currency of China that retards
her progress, Archbishop Ireland declares
that the Walsh pamphlet is throughout .
solid argument against the Chicago plat
form.