Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-11-17

no right to "fOiSt the theories of repub-
licanism upon the platform of demo-
cracy." If they have no right to bind
themselves together and adopt plat
form conforming to their beliefin gov
ernmental policies this is not free
country.
AS fourth reason he contradicts the
argument that the cause of the finan-
cial panic was the defeat of Harrison
in 1892, and says "they themselves
knew the real cause to be lack of money
in the world" 1t is certainly to be
deplored that the millions of voters of
America who cast their ballots for Nc
Kinley were so dishonest. That they
voted i'm direct defiance of what they
kne,O would bring them greater hard
times, lower wages and less employ
ment. My friend, am convinced that
it was not lack of money at all that
caused the panic, but the uncertainty of
the course to be adopted, should the
democrats continue in power, that
drove the money out of circulation.
And it was the fear of a depreciation of
silver that kept the gold from circulat-
ing. We had not seen piece of gold
coin for months, when, not five hours
after the result became known i'm De-
corah, we were the proud possessor of
two of those precious little yellow
pieces of money, and since it has be-
come common circulating medium.
With McKinley's election confidence
in the nation and the administration
of its duties to its citizens was restored
and factories and shops all over the
country are speedily opening up, fur
nishing employment for thousands of
laboring men.
The fifth and last reason, that many
republicans who would have voted
for bimetallism, 1--WE presume
he means free silver but who
feared that the financial stringen-
cy would be longer prolonged if we
were to wait for the passage of free
silver bill voted for the republican can
didates, is, i'm our opinion, the most
fallacious of all. Their real fear was
that the financial stringency would be
indefinitely prolonged in that case,
and their integrity of principle inn
PEELED them to vote for party which
had always been the synonym of
prosperity, good wages and plenty Of
work; the party whose candidates for
the nations greatest honor are chron-
icled upon the highest pinnacles of
fame, and under whose leadership
America has constantly advanced,
until now she stands at the head of all
nations in intelligence, in the patri-
Otism of her citizens. and in her COM
mercial relations with foreign peoples.
He says, "they, however, can be
counted upon to cast their votes and
influence for bimetallism at future
elections" which we do not think will
be the case. We have too much con-
fidence in the American people to be-
lieve that they will vote against their
convictions, and we feel assured that
they can be relied upon to rally again
to avert a great danger, if need be, as
they did in '6l and 1916.
The above is written simply to assure
our readers that the thoughts of the
gentleman were not ours, and that we
cannot agree with him in reference to
the causes of democratic defeat. We
believe it to be due to the fact that the
question was carefully studied by all
classes, and while there seemed to be
an overwhelming majority of silver
and judgement convinced the people
that this was not the time for an eX-
pertinent; that they wanted a hundred
cent dollar, and that they believed the
policy of republicanism to be based up
on the experience and better Judge
ment of the trainers of its platform;
and lastly, that with VIM. Mckinley,
sound money, protection and recipro-
city at the helm, an era OF unprece-
dented prosperity would be inaugu-
rated, to the supreme satisfaction of
every citizen of our great country.
GOVERNOR DRAKE has issued call
for special session of the state legisla-
ture, to meet January 10th. Its busi-
ness will be the codification of the
laws of Iowa, and to make provision
for the AnamOsa penitentiary and
Clarinda asylum, which have been
damaged by fires.
The gall of certain editors who are
advising President-elect Mckinley to
abandon protection, lest the feelings
of some of the free traders who sup
ported him be hurt, is great, but their
judgment is bad.
EX-CHIEF JUSTICE VIM. f.. MILLER
died suddenly at the christian sanitar-
ium in Des Moines on the Sth inst.
He was for many years very promi-
nent figure in the affairs of this state.
WE havantt heard n word lately