Omaha daily bee., 1896-07-05

ing tonight was marked by the absence of
David b. Hill. william c. Whitney was
present, but did not speak. The principal
speech of the night was that made by ex-
Governor Russell of Massachusetts,, who
said:
We meet with no personal ambition to
serve, with ne threat upon our lips, ana
and honesty of any democrat, however
radical the differences within our ranks,
but we, are painfully conscious of the pal
pable fact that tor the first time within
a generation and for the second time only
in its hundred years of honorable life. the
great national democratic party is ON the
point of sectional and geographical diVt-
The door is open for division, defeat. dis
honor; we see new faces and new prin-
ciples urging us on but we have not yet
crossed its threshold. May God save us
ing loyalty we ask the representatives of
our party to pause md, without prejudice
or passion. to consider well before commit
ting democracy to. Il radical and novel pol
icy, which we believe affects our nations
honor, and we know must break the ties
which bind north and south, east and west
together in an enduring and triumphant
democracy.
In n true democratic convention each
| member carries his manhood under his
own hat, conscience dominates Instruction,
and the welfare of his country and the
any sectional interest or personal success.
In the belief that now, as formerly, our
party meets III tfllS spirit, NllNlOuS W Idlly
under the old flag all its old soldiers and
to win recruits from other sections, and
ready TO accord freedom of speech and
action, we have gathered tonight to make
our appeal for union; and we of the north
and east to plead for the very life of our
| party. 1t would be folly to overlook the
gravity of the crisis, but 1t would be cow
ardly to abandon hope and undemocratic
to assume that our appeal will fall upon
deaf ears. Our great national party fears
no contest except within it's ranks; it can
not die except by suicide.
1t has been, and is, the peoples party.
fighting for their cause against selfish
sectional and class interests which control
the republican party. Within its ranks
thus far there has been no room, thank
! God, for sectional prejudice, proscriptive
bigotry. control by selfish interests, or any
influence which would divide us on geo
graphical, religious or class lines. Rights,
not favors; the people, not classes; our
country, not sections, are the maxims of
our democratic creed. Has the time come
when we are ready to surrender the car
dinal principles of our faith, to reverse the
a paternal government to add value to any
commodity in the interest of class or sec
ton, and; as the result of such, folly, to
destroy the national character of a broad
and tolerant democracy?
NOT READY TO SURRENDER.
We are not ready to surrender to re-
over silver, its discarded child, nor to aban-
don our position as the peoples party, to
become, like the republicans, a party of
it's history the democratic party IS urged
to make the cardinal principles of it's faith
and the leading issue of its campaign sill
Yer recommendation, a new and deprecated
standard of value. The demand is for free
coinage of silver at 16 to /, which means
are to be invoked to change our unit of
value and to substitute 80 cents of silver
the business of the country. all wages,
earnings and savings, all debts and cred
honor r to this defpreciated ~ Standard nd The
demand comes from a section and class
give value where none exists. Is this de-
mand a sound democratic principle? Does
it accord with the teaching and record of
our party, with the faith of Jefferson and
Cleveland. with it's unfinching position al
ways In favor of sound and hard, money,
and Sherman silver bills, with it's constant,
undying struggle against paternalism and
protection, and its proud boasts of being
the peoples party, broad as the nation,
controlled by no class or section or selfish
interest? May the delegates here gathered
this question to their conscience before they
plunge us into heresy and schism. as
sert that this demand of a section of our
1t is in conflict with the vital principles for
which we have successfully fought, that
it repudiates our past democratic platforms
and administrations, that logically it is a
republican principle, and historically n re-
publican policy, and that it is fraught with
party. Never yet has this demand been a
plank in any national democratic plat
" IL II vas 'Nli' iII'u'llailtu III Lie
convention of 1876. and thereafter aban-
doned; No power under heaven ever has
bimetallic standard at a ratio where one
coin is given double its intrinsic value. To
make so cents of silver by, force of govern
ment equal to a dollar in gold, will, by
memorable laws of nature, over which gov
eminent is powerless, drive out gold. con
tract our currency, depreciate our stand
ard, unsettlc business, impair credit, reduce
all savings and the value of all wages.
| hnl West losers and thp greatest SnffarnrG.
PROTECTION IN A NEW GUISE.
Tt is the old principle and experience of
protection over again, the power of
wealth for. the benefit of the few to the
burden and expense of the many. Surely
cratic I creed. No wonder ~ p'" this new WI doctrine trh
staggers some of us who have been stead
Easily loyal to a political faith we love.
professions we have made in many a ma
tional, convention, to reverse the honorable
a sound and stable currency, and then to
turn our backs upon a democratic admin
istration, which with courage and fidelity
has upheld the nations credit and honor
and saved us from disaster and disgrace.
This new doctrine. republican in principle.
Just discarded, in the hope that the
democratic party may be deluded into put
ting or. republican castoff clothing. Every
law which for a generation has threatened
the stability of our national currency and
credit has come in republican administra-
llOilS. HlttiibdthS' hlllhlloli' ulc
the children of republican rule. And now
1t has nominated as it's candidate one whose
record is more shaky even than its own and
whose cowardly silence Is ominous to
future trade and commerce. Can our party
of today. with any sincerity or upon any
democratic principle, follow in these re-
publican footsteps? Can 1t hope for any
success in regulating its own honorable
record? Can 1t even maintain its honor and
it's life in this departure from its own
faith? / am not here to utter a threat of
a section of our party, l have no interest
to serve. Every democrat true to his faith
and his conscience must determine his
duty if the crisis comes which is now inn
pending. But | state an evident fact when
| state that If our party takes this step II
will lose much of its national character,
abandon it's principles and there Will be
tens and hundreds and thousands, and yea,
tens of thousands of Its soldiers who cam
not follow it as 1t pursues it's will o. the
wiSp, under its new and radical leaders.
As a northern and a national democrat, l
implore our brethren in the west and south.
by whose side we would love to fight, whose
principles we have jointly held, for whose
interests we have labored and suffered, and
in whose victories We have done our part
course which will rudely break the closest
ties and send us, divided and discredited. to
a great and lasting defeat.
FACING A CRISIS.
Franklin MacVeagh of Illinois said:
Gentlemen: This meeting has been called
and this great ~assemblage has gathered
because the nation and the democratic
party are both face to face with an I'M