The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-10-13
OLD SCHOOL DEMOCRATS
MAGNIFICENT MEETING IN Tup
 GRAND OPERA HOUSE.

Two thousand people attended tha ratification meeting of the national democratis in the Grand opera housa l last evening. It was. as a whole, q. body of representative citizens Of the city, composed, for the most part, of men who will vote in November. though a few ladies were present in thes boxes and the front seats Apart from the disturbers of free speech who wers present in force and interrupted the speakers with cheers for Bryan and misses for the republican candidates, while other hoodlum tactics were re- sorted to, the audience was good-na-- l tured one and responded to the words of the speakers with hearty applause. l Previous to the speaking the Second regiment band gave a concert. A pla- toon of police was detailed to preserve order in the meeting.
 Chairman William s. Pardee of the town committee of the party introduce 1 ed the national democrats candidates l for governor, Joel A. Sperry, as the | greeted with loud applause. The sec- retary was James B. Wheeler, and the vice presidents included a number of prominent democrats of the old school.
 Mir Sperry spoke briefly, being great- ly interrupted by cheers for Bryan and cries and misses from the rear of the theater He said the silver mine own- CTS would get the benefit out of the free l e,s1xxa haefh hy1r.1 men of the country are opposed to free silver and it could not be possible that the business men were opposed to the best interests of the country.
 He then introduced Delancey Nicoll of New York, who, although constant- 1 ly interrupted by cries and misses, gave his hearers some sound money argu- I ments and rubbed them in to stay. He said, in part:
 Tt affords me great pleasure to meet my fellow democrats in New Haven, We are proud of the state of Connects cut for her honorable history and mag nificent progress, but never more SO than now for the courage displayed by the sound money democrats of tho state.
 T was glad to hear that there had been no attempt at compromise here. I It is no time for compromises. We have practically the same position in l New York. We are strongly impressed with the belief that the success of the l free silver candidate in this campaign means the total annihilation of the democratic party, and that 1t is our duty to kill the silver heresy at any cost. The division of the party means it's defeat in this campaign but we had rather be defeated as democrats than win as populists.
 ''In former years, instead of boy ora- tors speaking from the heads of bar rels and the tails of cars, we had statesmen and generals who had led our armies to victory as our leaders.
 Those were the times before Tillman emerged out of obscurity or surprised the country that his state could produce so noxious a weed or Tillman crept into the democratic fold and seized the lamb by the throat. Yes, it is me- lancholy spectacle for us who were brought uD in the democratic faith and could be nothing but democrats if we would
 If, as believe 1t will, our ancient party and it's principles shall continue to live after this campaign, it will be because there arc 50 many million dem- ocrats who will not bow down and worship the brazen image of party reg ularity.
 The platform of the Chicago conven- tion was worthy of the men who con- trolled the convention. It attempts to array the classes against each other. It is full of sophistries. It promises to the lawless free opportunity to riot. Whatever else the democratic party has been heretofore it has not been dishonest. To belong 10 the democratic party then was to be an honest man-
 with the long line of precedence of the democratic party for sound money how could you expect any democrat to support the Chicago platform?
 | There are several classes of mers who want free silver. There is the sil- yer mine owner, who would make 100 per cent. If we had free coinage. He grows red in the face when he talks of free silver. It is a panacea for all ills. If you carry a silver dollar in your pocket it will cure rheumatism. If you are i'll and take it powdered at night in a glass of water you will wake in the morning completely restored to health. If we were silver mine owners we might favor free silver. Then there is the gold mine owner, who wants free silver, because if we had it the price of gold would appreciate, for every one of us would tumble heels over head to get gold if we had free coinage of silver. Then there is the man who wants to pay the government bonds in silver, and there are a lot more who want to pay their own private debts in silver. Then there are other classes of men who say things are too cheap or that q crime was committed in 1873 which they propose to avenge in 1896, though the criminals have been dead twenty-five years Then there is the man who says things can't be any worse off than they are, but tell you that if we have free silver grass will grow in the streets of this happy and prosperous town. There is some selfish interest behind this silver agitation.
 "They have succeeded in capturing the senate and they have captured the democratic party. Will they capture the people of the United States? I say they will not capture the people of the United States. (Applause.) I say they ,,,;I1 ,,ot caot,1re them because there