Delaware gazette and state journal., 1896-07-16


America is Destined--Ths Predictions Of
Years Ago Recalled.
In cablegram sent from London to
the New York World, Tuesday, Bal
lard Smith says: Ambassador Bayard
was asked by reporter to-day for an
expression Of his opinion upon the
present political situation In the
United States and the duty of the
Democracy.
"Candidy," said Mr.. Bayard, "I
/ am go distressed over the situation and
II is SO chaotic that, anchored as am
of here, the smoke must rise from the
4 held before the line of national de-
fence can be defined by myself or per-
n haps by any Democrat
|H while it may not be possible for
|<me in my present position TO speak in
1sstantly upon the current situation it
<caDnot be improper to repeat nv de-
]lberately expressed opipion four years
beo in respect to the very dangers
(which are now upon us, and to state
'egain what was my opinion Of the
iieease and its remedy.
81 said before the Chamber of Com
MERGE in Boston on January 21st, 1892,
long before l came to England, some
4 things, not one word OF which l with
uraw at present and which seem to me
I entirely applicable at this moment.
Perhaps these words fell then upon deaf
lars, but they are rs true to-day as
1hey were then, as events have made
&ut too plain.
expressed my views of the cur
6spcy question lately at the dinner to
HE Honorable Artillery Co. last week
81 .-~< ,,%f AL "a I..I.. l.
y Xeek before. | then spoke unreservedly
- to the absolute necessity of the gold
1;15andard OF value and of the confusion
ahd ruin that would necessarily follow
Z, ,l1s loss. On the other hand, system
plumber by taxation has created
ttional distress, for which repu-
!1ation and ruin are supposed to be
3medies. -
Ought not to say that the Ameri-
Qhn people should be allowed to vote
,lpr men opposed to both and all of
ahese dreadful evils?'
Do you mean by this a bolting
4 1emocratic convention" asked.
One part OF these evils, Mr.. Bayard,
http, / understand, in your opinion, re-
{ presented by Mr.. McKinley's candi-
i dacy."
" Gas to both classes of evil" replied
ME-. Bayard, 81 fully expressed myself
Z on the occasion mentioned. / referred
: then to the approaching storm which
prudent foresight should have warned
TVS to consider and provide against.
( The gathering discomfort among the
Y agricultural population all over the
& United States was then evident enough
q thoughtful observers, not less than
< was the dangerous character OF some of
h ksxL 4
&proposed for their relief.
4 1.-THE abandonment and overthrow of
, our present STANDARD of value and a
substitution OF the free coinage of
silver at an arbitrary executive ratio,
to be set up by our government with
out the cooperation of other mercan-
tile nations wholly IN disregard to the
intrinsic value Of the metal, can only
be followed by disasters, financial,
social and political; BY serious and
paralyzing effect upon business in all
its departments, and upon industry in
all its avenues.
"It would strike grieyous blow
against our national honor and pros
perity, the effects of which it is i'm.
possible to estimate, and would in.
definitely postpone that primacy in the
financial and mercantile world which
otherwise we might hopefully antici-
pate in the not distant future.
But the evils which have led to
this upwise demand on large part Of
our population are not less to be dis
cussed. ! believe that the operations
of the law proposed by Mr.. Mckinley
and enforced by the law bearing his
name, regulating our commerce with
foreign nations, imposing taxes upon
imports and administering the col
lection OF such taxes, brought about
such ohstructions and congestion in
exchange and in the operation OF
natural laws of demand and supply, and
produced such condition Of affairs
that the exchange ability Of the
products of our soil was srievously I'M
paired. and that steady current ran
for many years against the agricul-
tural interests and those whose capital
and labor were involved in the owner.
d ship and cultivation Of land.
In other words, those engaged in
such production were. year by year,
under operation of law, necessarily de.
Il nuded by lilly adjusted and excessive
taxation OF their normal and constitu-
4 tional rights, until the prices they re-
Z ceived barely covered the actual cost
OF production and the purchasing
& power of their products did not suffice
ito procure for them and their families
that reasonable and comfortable liveli-
hood to which every industrious
y American citizen should be entitled.
n 1.-The condition at the time spoke
IS was epitomized by the declaration that
s the South must make less cotton or 60
hungry; that the West must grow less
4 corn and wheat or go unclad.
Measures proposed for relief un.
N doubtedly are in many cases radical,
impracticable, illusory and dangerous,
8 but the fact remained that they origi.
N nated in widespread and deep seated
e discontent and that the lamentations
are not idle nor without a cause. -
From your declarations, then, Mr..
Bayard, :" interposed the correspondent,
81 from which you say you would not
now withdraw word, | infer you
( could not counsel any Democrat who
has opposed high tariff to vote for
& McKinley?''
S 81 should be wanting in the candor
demanded in the present grave crisis, :"
Mr.. Bayard, "should l with.
hold my sincere belief that UNEQUAL
Sand unjust taxation, steadily increas-
ing for 80 years, has been the natural
parent of Coxey, Debs and Atgeld and
the deplorable outcome OF tho late
chicago convention, and that it will
continue and intensity the cause and