Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1896-04-23
Postum Politics.

IL udS ioiiCu W OuE lOG " LUX upOu
many specimens of platform architec-
ture, but the enc constructed by the
Republicans of this county at their
County Convention last week is the
most comprehensive structure of the
kind We have ever had our attention
called to. On the financial plank of
it anything can stand, from the new
woman to a Chinaman. 1t reminds
one OF the efforts of an orator to talk
without saying anything, and in this
respect it is a success. 1t .favors the
use of both gold and silver with such
restrictions as will secure the mainte-
nance of values of the two metals;
that the purchasing and debt-paying
power of the dollar, whether of gold,
silver Or paper, shall at all times be
equal" This, it will be seen, is an
omnibus in which anybody can ride.
1t is only remarkable for what it
doesn't say. Every citizen, whether
Republican, Democrat, Populist, or
Prohibitionist. wants each dollar,
whether of gold, silver, or paper, to
be as good as every other dollar. The
advocate of the gold standard wishes
to accomplish this result by making
silver a token money redeemable in
gold. The advocate of bimetalism be-
lieves that return to the silver unit
of 1892, with free coinage of both gold
and silver at the ratio of 16 pounds of
silver to one of gold, will accomplish
the same end. What do our Republi-
can friends really believe about this
matter? Do they believe in making
silver a token money, or a money of
final account? Do they believe that
the dollar should be twenty-five and
eight-tenths grains pure gold, as it is
now, or three hundred and seventy-one
and one-fourth grains of pure silver,
as it was in 1873? Do they believe in
free coinage at the old ratio or any
other ratio? Or do they desire to wait
for the consent of England before we
NEEDLE further with the silver ques-
ton? Do they desire to limit coinage
to the American product, or do they
desire to leave our miuts closed to sill
yer? No nah can ascertain their po-
sition upon any of these matters from
the platform they put forth. We sug-
gest to our Republican friends that the
day for straddles has gone by. People
are sick of platforms that mean moth
ing; they are tired of antiquities that
amount to nothing. They are disgust
ed with the sham and pretense that
have too often characterized the plat
forms of all parties. They want a
plain, straightforward statement of the
principles that each party expects to
enact into law if entrusted with power,
and they will tolerate no more double
dealing and subterfuge. The Demo
Gratis of this county made a platform
about which there can be no mistake
1t informs the public as to what they
believe and as to what they desire.
Who can tell from the Republican plat
form of this county what they want on
either the tariff or coinage question?
They applaud the Mckinley idea of
Protection and endorse the Reciprocity
idea of James G. Blaine. They have
forgotten that Mr.. Blaine denounced
the Mckinley bill in it's original form
as a piece of legislative folly, not cal
culated to sell another bushel of wheat
or corn or another pound of pork for
the American farmer. They over
looked the fact that Reciprocity, to
the extent it prevails, is a notification
of Protection; that its logical conclu-
sion is free trade. But these facts
make no difference to the man who
manages the machine. The people
have hitherto swallowed any kind OF
bait. and he fondly imagines this sort
of thing will endure forever. The end
mas come to this sort of thing in the
Democratic ranks. How much longer
it will continue to prevail in the Re
publican party remains to be seen.
We suspect that the haziness OF the
Republican platform in this county
was occasioned by the discovery that
certain influential Republicans were
not going to stand hitched if the con-
vention declared for the single gold
standard. The Republican producer