Connecticut western news., 1896-08-20
COCKRAN'S ADDRESS.
HIS SPEECH BEFORE GOLD STANDARD
 DEMOCRATS OF NEW YORK.

DEMOCRATS OF NEW YORK.
 The Distinguished Metropolitan Orator.. | Reply to Candidate Brysn's Addre.s of | Acceptance-The Second Great Demon stration of the Presidential Campaign. | NEW YORK, Aug. 1e.-The second nota- | hle demonstration of the political cam l paign in New York oity was held last night under the auspices of the Democrat
 10 Honest Money League of America In | Madison Square Garden, where Hon. W. | Bourke Cochran addressed an immense | audience with a speech entitled In Oppo- | sition to Repudiation.n NIT. Cochran had | been selected to answer Candidate Bryan's | speech because he was a boiling Democrat | and because of the reputation as ap orator | which he had earned by his participation | in the tariff debates of two congresses and | by his famous protest against the nomina- | tion of Cleveland delivered at aybreak in | the Chicago convention of four years ago Eighteen thousand seats had been placed | in the Garden, and all of them were filled when MT. Cochran advanced to the front | of the platform and was greeted by 8 tre- mendous cheer, men climbing upon their chairs and waving little American flags which had been strewn through the hall. Three hearty cheers were given for Mo | kinley. Major John Byrne, the president
 of the League, called the meeting to order,
 addressing his hearers as Democrats who
 love their country above party and ex- horting them to .'save that party from re- pudiation, anarchy and socialism," and
 then presented Hon. Perry Belmont, who
 made short speech by way of overture to MT. Cockran's effort.
 Following Mir. Belmont's speech, 50 singers, chosen from among the city's
 banks and titled the New York Banks
 Glee club, sang The Star Spangled Ban
 ner, '" the vast audience swelling the cho-
 rus with thunderous effort. Mir. Cochran said:
 MT. Cockran's Speech
 MR. CHAIRMAN. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. FELLOW DEMOCRATS, AII--with the inspiring strains of that national song stin ringing in our ears, who can doubt the issue of this cam paignf Stripped of all verbal disguise. it is
 issue of common honesty. an issue between the honest discharge and the dishonest repu- | diation of public and private obligations. It is question as to whether the powers of this government shall be used to protect honest in- dustry or to tempt the citizen to dishonesty. On this question honest men cannot differ. IL
 is one of morals and of justice It involves the existence of social order. It is the contest fof civilization itself. A Democratic convention may renounce Democratic faith, but the De-
  ciples. Democratic leaders may betrsy a con vention 10 the Populists but they cannot se- duce the footsteps of Democratic voters from the pathway of honor and of justice A candi-
 date bearing the mandate sf Democratic con vention may in this hall open a caavass level- ed against the foundations of social order and he beholds the Democratic masses confronting him organized for the defense. Fellow Dem ocrsts, let us not disguise from ourselves the fact that we bear in this contest a serious and ay.a nd 2ol br1r Of Anrv Wa st raise our hands against the nominee of oui party, and we must do 1t to preserve the fu- ture of that party itself. We must oppose the
 nominee of the Chicago convention. and we know full well that the success of our opposi- ton will mean our own exclusion from public life, but we will be consoled and gratified by the reflection that it win prove that the Amer
 ican people cannot be divided into parties a question of simple morals or of common
 honesty. We would look in vain through the speech delivered here one weak ago to find
 true statement of the issue involved in this canvass. Indeed. believe it Is doubtful if the candidate himself quite understands the
 ture of the faith which he professes. say this
 not in criticism of his ability, but in justice to
 his morality. I believe that if he himself un-
 derstood the inevitable consequences of the
 doctrines which he breaches that his own
 hands would be the very first to tear down
 the platform on which he stands. We all must
 remember that lurid rhetoric, which glowed as hercely in the western skies as that sun lght which through Inc past week foretOlu the torrid heat of the ensuing day, and here upon this platform we fiud that same rhetoric
 ss mild. as insipid as the waters of & stagnant | pool. He is a candidate who was swept into
 the nomination by a wave of popular enthusi- | asm awakened by appeals to prejudice and | greed. He is & candidate who. declaring that | this was a revolutionary movement sooner found himself face to face with the American feeling than he realized that this soil Is not | propitious to revolution; that the people of ~ho sAaa | which have stood the tests and experiences ol | 8 century for institutions based upon the fan
 tastic dreams of Populist agitators: that the American nation will never consent to substi tute for the republic of Washington, of Jefer-
 son and of Jackson for the republic of an Alt geld. Tillman or a Bryan.
 | Calls the Platform Revolutionary. | Whatever change may have come over hi. | manner a candidate, however much the
 hemence of his eloquence may have been | duced. two things for which he stands remain | unaltered- On this platform he defended the | most revolutionary plank of the Chicago con.
 vention in speeches vehement but not less | nest than that in which he supported their l adoption. On this platform he defended the | Populist programme of overth rowing the in- | tegrisy of the supreme court If there be any | fruit which has grown for the benefit of all mankind out of the establishment of our re- | public, 1t has been the demonstration that it l is possible by the organization of an independ- { | citizen and protect those natural privileges | against any invasion from whatever source or | however powerful might be the antagonizing I clements
 | The very existence of that power presup- ! poses the existence of an independent tri- 1 hunal. yet have this Popuiist convention. | because Populist measure was condemned
 as unconstitutional proposing not to amend ! the constitution in the ordinary way pre- | scribed by that instrument itself. but propos- | ing to pack the court so that it will pronounce
 those laws to be constitutional which the con
 stitution itself condemns: & proposal to make
 the courts of law instruments of lawlessness:
 to violats that sacred compact between the
 states on which the security of this nation l rests. to profane the temple erected for its | protection by the hands of false priests, who.
 though sworn 10 defend 1t, will be appointed
 to destroy it.
 In the time to which must confine myself
 I can do nothing but examine that one Ques-
 tion which MT. Bryan himself declares to be
 the overshadowing issue of this campaign.
 am little puzzled when read this speech to
 decide just what MT. Bryan himself imsgines
 win be the fruit of a change in the standard
 of value throughout this country. I do not be
 ieve that any man follow wholly with , the speech, because if he dissents from enc set
 of conclusions he has got to read but few l paragraphs and he will find another. If Mir.
 Bryan show that by any means
 known to heaven or on earth wages could Ls
 increased, will be ready to support him, be | cause knOW or no test or prOsptrlty hbSOlute
 ly infallible except the rate of wages paid tc l laborers.
 When we come to find how MT. Bryan ex ! poets to increase the wages of labor, we find , 1 ourselves lost in a maze of contradiction. Nc
 man can tell how or where or when the wage: of the workingmen to be increased, but , any one who examines the scheme can see ths , the inevitable tendency, the inevitable conse , quence of debasement in the standard o value must be a reduction in the rate of wages and that is the conspiracy in which the Pop ulists are engaged.
 Now, MT. Bryan tells us that he wants \
 eheapen the dollar; that he wants to increase
 the volume of money. I do not believe that ! any who ever lived could quite under stand Populist's notion of what money i: further than that he believes 1t is a desirab bls
 thing to get and that he is not very particular