The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1896-10-24
One Of Americas Great Catholic
Leaders is Opposed to
Organism.
ARCHBISHOP IRELAND'S LETTER
Tho Chicago Platform Declared to
% be a Threat Against So
ciaI Order


ten not as prelate, but in his private
capacity as a citizen, cannot fail to carry
weight with multitudes of voters of his
own faith. and it is good reading for
everybody. He does not lay special
stress upon the financial plank of the
Chicago platform, but upon it's declara-
ton relating to the federal authority and
the integrity of the Supreme court. The
archbishop points out in unmistakabl
language the revolutionary character of
that platform. He says: ''The move
ment which had it's expression in the
Chicago convention and which now seeks,
by means of popular suffrage, to en-
throne itself in the capital of the ma
ton, is in its logical effect against the
United States: it is secession" He
quotes the frank announcement of arbi-
trary interference by federal authorities
in local affairs and observes: 'In these
words there is the old secession doctrine
that states are Independent of the ma
tional government at Washington; there
is the annulment of the Union; there is
notice served upon the flag of America
that outside of the District of Columbia
it is without power of self-assertion or
self-defense." And again, 1.-THE plat
form of the Chicago convention threat
ems the country with destruction of social
order, with lawlessness and anarchy"
On the question of government by in
junction, the archbishop tells the people
of America that ''The palladium of
American liberties is the supreme court
at Washington. the counterpart of
which in majesty and in power to en-
force absolute justice, does not exist
among the nations of christendom.
And now a convention speaks of the su-
prem court as it may be hereafter con-
stituted,' intimating Enthusiastically the in
tention, if the party represented in that
conveI on comes to power, to so consti-
tute the courts as to make it insensible
to the stern voice of the law, and. re-
sponsive to the passing whims of politi-
cal parties"
The archbishop sees in the platform n
sectional and guarded expression of so
cialism The convention of Chicago sis
the international of Europe, now tax
ing body in America. The war
of class against class is upon us, the war
of the proletariat against the property
holder. No other meaning than this can
be given to the appeals to the common
people, to labor, to the poor and down.
trodden, and to the denunciations
against plutocrats and corporations and
money grabbers and bankers. Many ad-
herents of the movement do not per-
ceive it's full meaning: but let them be-
ware, they are lighting torches which,
borne in hands of reckless men, may
light up in the country the lurid fires of
a commune.
Archbishop Ireland thinks that the
pamphlet of Archbishop Walsh of Dub
lin on bimetalism has no bearing what
ever on the situation in America. and
against the Chicago platform. Free
coinage, he says, will give us money
worth in the commercial market of the
world, a little over half its nominal
value. Legal tender com.
polling men to accept against their will
money above. its commercial value in the
markets of the world, is rank injustice
He is absolutely convinced that the
classes will suffer the most OF
all from free silver coinageW With re-
spect to the farmer, he pertinently asks,
.Will they not receive higher price
for, their products? Maybe a higher
price but not S,r higher o Hauf instead of wfa.
half dollar if the dollar can purchase
no more than the half dollar.
The best market for the
farmers's product is his own country,
and if his own country is impoverished,
If factories are closed, If laborers in
cities are penniless. the farmer will re-
ceive but little for his harvests." He
scorns the absurd explanation of our in
dustrial and financial troubles by refer
ring to the 'crime of 1873" and says
that 1T is the great fallacy of the day
to be attributing our hard times to the
gold standard" He thinks that lander
the silver standard we will have much
harder times" and that zone of the chief
causes of hard times today is the agita-
ton for a radical change in the currency
of the country"
Like all other men who think upon
this subject seriously, Archbishop Ire
land comes at last to consider the ethical
aspect of the question, and asks: "Is it
honest to try to pay debts with half the
money which we received when we con-
American nserH nation will as nr nation he sre de
clare to the world that 1t will now make
law compelling its creditors to be sat
isfied with half, or a little more, Of the
money they loaned to II, and 90 on record
in the, eyes of the world as a broken
down, bankrupt, repudiating nation, 1t is
not possible to believe"
Holding these views, which are fully
anu carefully eiuDOTdttu THIS lettoT,
which is too long for reproduction here,
II is not surprising to hear him say: 81
stand by the platform and the presiden-
tial candidate of the Republican corven-
ton at st. Louis. am opposed to the
platform and the presidential candidate
of the Democratic convention at Chica-
CO."
The following are the closing para
graphs of the archbishop's letter:
Here Is the popular argument in
favor of free silver coinage-we have
had hard times under the gold standard.
Fhat is true, and what is also true is
that under the silver standard we shall
have much harder times. 1t is the great
fallacy of the day to be attributing our
hard times to the gold standard. The
craze of free silver as q cure for hard
times is explicable on the same theory
that a man who has been a long time
sick despite the attentive care of expert
physicians, will call for any guack who
advertises to cure all the ills of hu-
mainly. Hard times have come through
the severe and resistless working Of
economic laws, which 60 their way In