The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-06-22
DEMOCRATIC PARTY'S PERIL
WILLIAM c. WHITNEY ISSUES i
 PUBLIC MANIFESTO.

Democratic Party Must Proclaim fol
 Sound Money-To Declare for Silver
 Would be to Disrupt It-Ranks Divided
 on the Great Issue-History of Attempt
 to Secure International Recognition oi
 Silver Reviewed.
 New York, June 21.--William c. Whit ney to-day issued statement in which he says: T find it necessary to make public statement embodying my views of the situation, to correct misconcep- t!ons and to save the time now occu- pied in answering questions.
 Far too great importance has been attached to my decision to go to the Chicago convention. have been prac- tically out of politics for four years, and there are now many eastern dem ocrats who can do much more than l can for the party. I shall not assume any position of leadership. My decision 10 stay was simply based on the duty of every person who believes in the rarty for its principles to stand by and lend his aid and take his chances when great crisis is upon it. There can be no question but that a great crisis is upon the democratic party. Funda- taental differences of principle exist in- side the party, marked almost by sec tional lines.
 ''The great question to my mind is whether the party meets in convention now as in 1860, with issues and differ ences that are for the moment irrecon- cilable. For the last fifteen years lead ers of public opinion in the south and west have been advocating as the great remedy for existing ills the free coin age of silver at 16 to 1. with or without the cooperation of other nations.
 Tt has come to be believed in these quite generally and conscientiously. A large majority of the delegates to the coming convention have been elected by the people for the purpose of incor- rorating that doctrine into the platform of the democratic party. Our people, on the other hand, entirely disagree with those views and believe almost universally that it will bring general ruination to the country. It is deemed a new doctrine when proposed to be incorporated into the platform of the national democracy. It is true that in no previous platform of the party can 1t specifically be found Consequently no party obligations heretofore assun- ed oblige them to subscribe to it.
 Under these circumstances, if the results of the democratic convention should be to establish as the issue of this campaign the free coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to i, indeDendent of other nations, in the intensity of feel ing likely to arise, it is to be seriously apprehended that a disruption of the democratic party might occur Ger tainIy no substantial following could be secured for the doctrine among east ern democrats. They might not vote the republican ticket for other reasons believing that the republican party stands for other issues that are detri- mental to the country), but the dem- ocrats in the east would not vote for it.
 ''This movement for free coinage pur- poses to have for it's object the estab- Iishment and maintenance of gold and silver as the money of the country on equal terms with each other and at a parity of purchasing power, If, by the proposed measure, that object could be secured, there would be no substantial disagreement.
 Every national democratic platform that has heretofore spoken upon the subject has declared for both gold and silver money But the maintenance of the double standard at the present time is not a question of desire, it is ques- ton of ability. The commercial value of silver has declined greatly in the markets of the world. Whatever the causes are and whoever is to blame the fact is that silver has declined, and free coinage now at 16 to 1 is the same as our offering for all the silver in the world about twice what it is selling for in the market International exchanges have to be paid in gold. And it would seem plain that if we under these condi- tons open our hints to the free coinage of silver and gold at a ratio of com parative value, which is largely at va riance with the commercial value of the two metals, We must take the entire silver surplus ourselves, and alone maintain it's parity with gold, or else we shall go to a silver basis.
 France in 1873 closed her hints against silver and abandoned this ex pertinent deeming herself unequal to the task alone, and at that time it was much less difficult. for silver was then at par with gold at the ratio in use and even Englands hints in India were open to the free coinage of silver. If the experiment of obtaining the parity of the two metals at coinage stand ard was difficult then it would seem to be positively hopeless now, without in ternational agreement. Germany France, Belgium, Italy, and Austria believe in a double standard and desire to establish it, but no one, two or three of them deem themselves able to main- stain the double standard, even with the Incorporation of the United States. If the result of the measures proposed would be to carry us to a silver basis lit is not felt here that such a proposi- ltion would be in line with the princi- iples of the democratic party. It is not Ito the joint standard with the purchas- ling power of the dollar at parity with leach other, but it is changing from one standard te another and that change being to a depreciated coin.
 < And it is felt also that you cannot ihave such a disturbance of values as would come from changing from a gold Ito a silver basis without such shock sto confidence, the hoarding of gold and 4cop+roo+io,, of yOJ,r availab ble piTpuIat-