The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1896-07-17
The Argument Of the Campaig ign.


g The coming campaign sho uld b
!, one of argument and Will be IL tn
!, men who profess to represent conser
vatism will operate with sense
: There is no reason for bitterness
: So far rs candidates are concerne'
n both the men at the head Of the tick
9 cts are men of most iovable person
= alities and Of high order OF abilit.
s and character, both qualified by in
Q tellectual equipment to adorn thu
presidential chair. Not a word car
fairly be said against either as men
The decision must turn on the prin
ciples the policies, the ideas they rep
resent.
Nor is there excuse for bad temper
over the issues. The men and news
papers that are mounting about "an-
archists, F" or like one Of the New York
financial journals about the lass Of
ignorance, cupidity and communism
showing ''ears of stupidity ard hoof
of immortality. aiming at dis
regard of all property rights legal
izing robbery" &C., are doing their
best to promote Just what they profess
to repudiate, to stir up class hatreds
and war of sections. They have only
to succeed in this sort of tactics to
make the result certain against Just
what they advocate.
The issues involved, both as regard S
the tariff and the monetary question,
are issues on which the best minds
in the world disagree, and over which
the most profound and Thorough stu
dents have come To opposite conclu-
sions. The argument is not all on
one side in either case. Men can be
lieve regarding either that the most
important interests are at stake and
reaching consequences Of evil but the
fuller their knowledge of either sub
iect the reader will they be to see
how intelligent and equally honest
men can disagree with them. And the
man is unfit for American citizenship
who seeing on the other side thou
sands and millions of the American
people just as patriotic, just AS anxious
for right as himself, can recognize in
it all nothing but disposition to rob
and cheat, nothing but Ignorance,
stupidity and communism P"
The simplest statemen the point
at issue is sufficient to show how silly,
nay even wicked, is this wholesale
denunciation. All parties are agreed |
as to the object aimed at. Ill par
ties are in favor of bimetalism. Not
single platform of either for dozen |
years has failed to declare for it, as
both do now, and as the second Dem
ocratic convention will unquestion
ably do. All, therefore, in admitting
the need or desirability of bimetalism.
Admit the truth of the silverites
claim of the wrong and injustice of
the single standard; else their de
are empty wind.
The only dispute is AS to how to reach
1t. One side says it ca n onl. be done
by international agreement, and be
lleves in spite of all past discourage
ments that such an agreement is at
tanable because there is strong
afoot for it in Europe
already and because all the causes :.
which make it so evidently desirable =
nere, are operating with even greater :.
iorce there The other side says it is !.
useless to wait for such an agreement, =,
hat this is proved by the failure of !,
all the conferences called for this pur-
pose in the past 20 years. that Eng
and will continue to stand in the way
is she has done in the past, because
Ter interest as a creditor nation is in ;.
.dherance 10 the gold standard to
rive her an advantage over others. ,
The only way TO do, they say, is to lead :,
,ff in free coinage and other nations =.
will follow. y
1t becomes, therefore, a question only -
f the practicability of that method =,
f leading off. To succeed it must
esult in the raising of the value of :,
liver, now worth in the markets for the
'orld by weight only about $50 of
old, to 1-16. The free silver men say
will do this because the United =,
tates and the silver standard coun %
lies control nearly all the produc r.
on. Europe or the gold standard :,
do not produce what silver ;,
ley use for the arts, to say nothing of =,
hat is required for subsidiary coin -
,e, within s1l, 600, 900. year, that n,
lerefore they have got to constantly of
nport silver from us, and if we give a W:
rec and unlimited market to all the Or u,
st at fixed price of 10 to l.. cam he
IT fail to raise the market price to CT
at point. The answer to this is %
lat while i might be so under nor an an
al conditions, there are too abnormal mr.
nditions of vast i'm portance that FIR