Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1896-10-08
IDENTIFY and courageously answer this ques-

vi fne otdtb democracy, declared at DO
yer on August 10. and shall support the
nominations then made for state officers
governor and representative in Congress
But we are also here. my friends. fol
another purpose. A purpose higher and
broader in Its scope, than the success On
defeat of candidates. Our presence here
tonight means our protest. our solsmr
| and emphatic protest, against the perver.
sion OF Democratic doctrine contained in
the platform lately adopted at Chicago
and the prostitution OF the organization
OF the Democratic party TO its promulga-
tlon and support.
1t is this that has stirred this con-
| sciences and challenged the thought and
| intelligence Of the American people, as
they have never been stirred or chal-
lenged before during this generation. II
this be Democracy, then we must read
backwards the book Of our Democratic
faith. unsay the doctrines and reverse the
teachings of a hundred years OF glorious
history, and turn with their faces to the
wall the pictures Of Jefferson and Gala
tin, of jackson and Marcy, OF Tilden aud
Lamar, of Cleveland and Bayard. Nay,
more, we must give the lie to what the
Delaware Democracy In its platforms has
solemnly and repeatedly said.
In 1899, 1t declared as follows:
Resolved, That the Democracy of Della
ware are opposed to any plan which will
deprive them of their present standard of
value. That the business of the country
requires stable money, and no monetary
system can be justified that admits a fiuctu-
atlng measure and substitutes fictitious for
real payment. Therefore, we insist that
every dollar authorized by the government
shall be intrinsically worth its nominal
value, or be convertible at the will OF the
holder. into a dollar. capable Of sustaining
It's own full nominal value anywhere in the
civilized word''
In 1894, II declared as follows:
"In accord with the national Democratic
platform OF 1892, we declared that we hold
to the use of both gold and silver as the
standard money of the country, and to the
coinage of both gold and silver without
discriminating against either metal, or
charge for mintage, but the dollar unit of
both metals must be of equal intrinsic. and
cxchangeable value, or be adjusted by
such safeguards of legislation as shall in
sure the maintenance of the parity Of the
two metals and the equal power of every
dollar at all times in the markets and in
the payment of debts; and we demand that
all paper currency shall be kept at par
with and redeemable In such COIN"
And again, in June, 1896. 1t asserted:
1.-THE Democracy OF Delaware In conven-
tion assembled, declare again our allegi-
ance to the cardinal doctrines Of their pOlit-
ical faith, and that therefore we are In
favor of maintaining the present monetary
standard, and are opposed to the free coin
age OF silver, or to the compulsory pur-
chase of silver bullion by the government.
I'VE believe that the true interests OF the
people require that the earnings of agri-
culture and trade, and the wages of labor
should be paid in money that is intrinsi-
cally worth, in all the markets OF the
world, what 1t purports to be worth, and
that the government should keep all its OBJ
legations at all times redeemable and pay
able in money of the standard adopted and
In use by ourselves and by the most ad-
vanced and civilized nations of the world.
'As the party of the plain people of this
country, who for the most part depend
upon the wages they receive, we are op-
posed to the experiments in finance which
will lessen the purchasing power of the
money they earn.
eve believe that tluctuating currency
or falsilied money would be fatal to the
interests of agriculture and labor, and
would only inure to the benefit OF the spec
ulator and gold gambler; and we uphold
the Democratic administration in its ef-
forts to maintain the credit and integrity
Of the government. We believe that the
Federal Government should be divorced
from the business of banking. which should
4.