The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-10-13
Archbishop Ireland's Statement.

ArchDtSnOp Ireland'S Statemeht.
The statement recently given To the
press by Archbishop ireland will un-
doubtedly receive even from support
crs Of the Chicago platform respect
full considera tiOn. 1t cannot be charged
of this eminent churChman as has
been charged OF some others who have
publicly espuused Major Mckinleys
cause that his favor has been won by
agents of Mark Hanna for cOnsidera-
tion. No man stands higher for in
tegrity, for honor and for civic virtue
than John Ireland. Although he speaks
only as a citizen. his word will carry
great weight. Says he:
stand by the platform, and the pres
ent candidate of the Republican convon-
tion. ] am opposed to the platform and
the presidential candidate of the Demo-
cratic convention at Chicago The day uf
the civil war excepted. at no time did so
great q peril threaten the country as that
which Is involved in the political cam
paign of today. The question Of free and
unlimited coinage of silver Is put in the
foreground. The question has its mpor-
the presence of other questions which are
brought into the movement which had
its expression in the Chicago convention,
aud which now seeks by means of popular
suffrage TO enthrone itself in the capital
of tho nation. This movement is in its
logical effects revolutionary against the
United States: It, is secessiOn--the seces-
sion of 1861. which our soldiers believed
they had consigned to eternal death at
t.l, II. in
ecognitiou from the American people.
The declaration In the Chicago platform
has and can have no other meaning; 1--WE
denouncs arbitrary interference by fed
crol authorities in lO.3l affairs as a viola
tion OF the constitution of the United
States and crime against free !nstitu-
tions"
The words point to the act OF Grover
Cleveland In sending United States troops
10 protect national property aud enforce
national laws during the Chicago riots in
1894. In those words there is the old Sc
cession doctrine that states are independ-
ent of the national government at Wash
ington. There is the annu,ment of the
Union: there Is notice served upon the
flag of America that outside the district
Of Columbia 1t Is without power of self
assertion or self defence. The president
of the United States is told that to en-
force national laws and protect national
property he cannot march his troops into
any state without the authorization OF the
government OF that state. The platform
of the Chicago convention threa tens the
country with destruction of social order,
with lawlessn and anarchy. The per-
soniticatiOn of the law and of social order
in America is In our courts and the prom
Use of safety to our free institutions IS
the prompt obedience to those courts. and
now the courts are to be shorn of their
power and shorn of it in favor of mobs
bent on rioting and the destruction Of
property.
Worse to my mind than all this is the
spirit of socialism that pelmeates tho
whole movement which has issued from
the convention at Chicago. 1t Is the "in-
ternationar' Of Europe, now taking form
in America. OF this one cannot but be
convinced when the movement is closely
observed, the shiboleth Of its adherents
listened to. the discourses of its orators
carefully examined. The war of class
against cass Is upon us, the war of the
proletariat against the property-holdcr
No other meaning than this can be given
to the appeal to the common people,"
to the 'laborer," to the poor and down.
trodden" and to the denunciations against
''plutocrats'' and corporations" and
"money grabbers" and 'bankers." Many
ceive its full meaning; but let them be-
ware: they are lighting torches which
borne in the hands of reckless men. may
light up in this country the lurd fires of
a commune. America, heretofore, has
been free from socialist" hatred and war;
fare; it has been a country of opportuni-
ties for all men and 1t has given to the
laborer livelihood higher and better
than is offered him in any other country
of the world. Is this all to be changed?
Is social chaos gloating over ruins, to be
q method of the social elevation of the
masses? There may be room in some
things for peaceful amelioration through
well Informed public opinion and orderly
legislation; but class hatred and angry
passion never led to aught but general mis-
cry and suffering. Let the people of Amer
lea today look warily around and guard
against catch words and misleading wa"
cries, avoid giving any countenance to
socialistic and anarchstic tendencies and
know that the first condition Of prosper
ity to any and all classes of the people Is
q peaceful commonwealth and an as
sured social order.
In the remainder of his statement of
5000 words the archbishop discusses
clearly and understandingly the fall
lacies which .underly the free silver at
16 to 1" cry, But as he says at the be-
ginning that in itself is relatively
minor in its portentous suggestion of
danger to the communistic tenor of the
Bryan campaign. The quotation made
above embodies that part of the arch
bishops deliverance which is of widest
and deepest significance, and we COM
mend it to the consideration Of every
thoughtful citizen.
On December &c, 1886, Andrew Jack
son wrote: "There is no fraud IN gold;
like the honest principles of the found
ers of our government. who declare by
constitutional provision the precious
metals to be the only money of the re-
public. 1t is Interchangeable, and will do
its Office well everywhere and at all
times; no Alchemy can multiply it-no
chartered privileges can give sudden
and unseen expansion or contraction to
its amount. Nature has set limits and
labor imparts an invariable value to it.
1t is, therefore, the true representative
Of the principles Of Justice and equality