The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1896-08-20

after the contentious of history have ceased
to rage about his acts and his memory,
that will remain star-bright forever, 1t was
his action, when the pulse Of business beat
low, when commercial Intercourse was cut
Off by rioters In Chicago. by which upon
principles and precedents laid down by
George Washington one hundred years be-
fore, he raised the strong arm Of the
United States to restore law and order In
this country. Applause and cheers.)
This act is covertly (and covertly Is too
mild a wordD denounced In the Chicago
platform. More than that. If there is an
institution in this country or In any nation
upon which the stability of government de-
ponds, the very keystone of the great arch
upon which the ranged empire stands, 1t is
the organ and function of final decision that
must exist somewhere in ali governments.
It is the courts Of our land where men Sc
questered from political concerns and pO-
litical ambitions, holding the scales Of JUS
tice even between contending passions and
contending rights, decide for their fellow
citizens what the Jaw is. And for more
than one hundred years the supreme court
of the United States has sat In that ex-
allied position, midway in the capitol Of the
nation between the senate and the house
of representatives, typical Of the embodied
law, and of its sublime capacity to re-
strain either, and 1t has done more to con-
uuCl SONCtumShI W tAC uiSh pidhC
which it occupies, was going to say, than
all the statesmen whom this country has
ever produced. (Applause.) The Chicago
platform strikes at that court, strikes at
all courts, and enunciates Its malign
prophecy Of the reorganization of that court
and all other courts. If necessary, to COM
pell them to register the fitful and passion
ate and repudiating edicts of mistaken and
misguided parties.
And worse than that-worse than that.
If there was another thing which the veter-
ans Of the last war thought they had
achieved and which the loyal sentiment of
the North thought it had achieved, it was
the Obliteration Of all sectionalism in this
country. We were to have no South, no
North, no East, no West any more. The
whole country was to be a unity. But in
, these later days, we see the solid South
coming up to the banks Of the Ohio and
the Missouri as before the war, with Sec
tional demands upon an economic Issue, pre-
cisely as before the rebellion. And now,
with the pitchfOrk of Tillman stirring up
the doctrine of state rights, with the bomb
of Altgeld in the denunciation of our courts
and of President Cleveland thrown under
the very fabric of our government, they
have chosen to put forward an issue some
thing which touches most Immediately the
conviction, the passions, the cupidity and
the honesty Of men, and which In itself
contains more disintegrating Influences to
our prosperity than all the causes combined
that l have mentioned The Democratic
party, as now organized, has Joined the
Populist party in bonds Of unholy wedlock,
upon the demand that the United States
shall take q position upon the currency Of
this country which 1, speaking to you UNI
der the responsibility Of man who Is
speaking to his neighbors, say that l be-
lieve Is fraught with more disaster to this
country that the greatest foreign war could
hvin ohn,,f
And that is the subject that have been
asked to talk to you tonight about. / am
going to do so; as l said in the beginning,
not with any attempt at decorative speech,
not denouncing any men who may choose
to differ from me, for tell you, my fellow
citizens, that many and many thousand
men who differ from us to-day on this mat
ter, one year from now will be wondering
why and how they came to do it. ZAP
plause.) l shall give you facts and figures.
l shall not draw on my own imagination
for my facts at all. The facts that / shall
give you will be impregnable 1t Is for you
to judge whether the deductions ! shall
draw from them can be refuted.
Now, what is the question? For correct
understanding of the question Is always the
first step toward the solution of any con-
troversy. The question is not whether there
should be free and unlimited coinage of sill
yer in the mnts of all the nations, by the
cOuSeuL OIL Tue COmueEClui udtlOuS
Of the globe upon a ratio to be agreed upon.
That is not the issue. We all might agree
that when that Is brought about, as 1t will
be, If the United States conducts itself with
judgment upon this question 1t would be an
excellent thing. The Republican party has
pledged itself in Successive platforms to la
Dor to bring about that international igree-
ment. Many of the most advanced thinkers
upon financial questions in both hemis-
pheres are advocating, especially in for
eign lands, the resumption of the coinage
Of silver by united action Of nations who,
long ago, Independently of us, and uncon-
trollable by us, suspended or limited the
further coinage of silver. But l want to
say one thing to you, that not one of these
professors in foreign universities, not one
of these great economists whose name and
fame are worldwide, not one of those
financiers who have given days and years of
thought to this subject not one and nobody
except the leaders of the modern Democ-
racy and Pepulism has ventured to advise
his own country to undertake that task
alone. (Applause)
The question Is this, and nothing more:
Shall the United States alone undertake
the free and unlimited coinage Of silver at
a ratio of 16 to 1? "a few cries of ''Yes"
and NO." and repeated cries of "No.'D
Now you gentlemen over there who called
''yes" and you gentlemen here who called
"no," illustrate the difference of opinion
upon this subject Qaughter), and to you over
there who come to listen to me, you will
listen dispassionately, you will digest my
arguments and hope that by the time you
have done so thoroughly you Will be In
clined to shout "No'' with the gentlemen
who responded when you shouted. Cheer
ing and applause.)
Now, let us be entirely good natured
about this l am going to try to give you the
facts, and l repeat it, the issue Is whether
the United States shall attempt to do
that thing alone, In the face Of the controli-
ing fact that every civilized commercial
nation upon the face Of the earth, except
the Central American and South American
states years ago abandoned 1t utterly. And
If 1 shall squeezed In convincing any of Our
friends that we are not In position to do 1t
without INJECTING upon the country and
upon us all injuries which 1t will take
generation to repair, shall be more than
rewarded for the pains that l have taken,
the observations that / have made, the
studies that / have gone through and the
reflections which have brought me to my
present convictions. (Applause.3
Shall we, for our own interests, stand
along with those nations with which we
have classed ourselves and who are lead
ing the march of humanity, or shall we go
with Mexico, South America, China and
Japan-the rearward half of the army OF
human progress-and join those imperfect
and rudimentary civilizations, which are an
ocular demonstration that no nation ever
undertook alone the coinage of free silver
that did not deprive itself of gold entirely.