The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1896-10-17
DEMOCRATS. READ THIS.

from all accounts the Hon. ]. Sterling
Morton has made good Secretary of
Agriculture in Mr.. Cleveland's Cabinet.
and his friends have marked his admin
istration of that office with no little sat
isiaction. but of late he seems to have
lost his head as many other good men
nave done. since the opening Of the
Presidential campaign
So long as Mr. Morton confined his
writings to descriptions of cabbage seed
lie was alright, but the very moment he
abandoned that class of litera t,,re he
startled the country with his ignorance.
NOBODY has ever thought that j. Sterl-
ing Morton was overwhelmed with intel
itsence, but the people thought hin, n
good man To handle their turnius ana
garden seed. and when Mr.. Cleve,,pd
invited him TO become n member of his
poii''cal household they said it was
well. But this quite good man has
grown rabid of late-he sees in the sill
yer movement another ATTEMPT TO de-
strop the "Union"-and less Il may s,,c-
coed he hastens to write the Washing
ION Post In regard to the matter. and
here is what he says:
The finance which they teach is
entirely Confederate flat In The
southern Confederacy the same
leaders who now are in command
OF me picket guards for free silver
at 16 to l, We're leading financinrs
ana Harris, Pugh, Morgan and the
other Confederate Generals now i'm
command of the Bryan campaign
seems to desire to accomplish by
false finance that which they failed
TO DrInE hOut hv
dishonor and disgrace"
This would be amusing if not so ridi-
culous. But, seriously speaking. does
Mr.. Morton know what he is tolkino
about? Does he not know that the mon
wnom he has attacked in his correspon-
dence TO the Post are as patriotic as
himself? And does he not know that all
OF the silver men are not Confederate
bridagiers? If every man who advo-
Gates free silver is q traitor and n would
be destroyer of the Union, Mr. Morton
mas several hundred thousand of them
In his own section of the country
AS the Post remarks:
Hundreds of thousands of thon,
VINO fought for the integrity of the
Union just as valiantly as Mr.. Nor
ton dld--who swelled the regiments
iioi'i NHio, inuIana, Illinois, MIchi-
gan, Minnesota, Kansas, Iowa and
Wisconsin. What of these? surely
they did not study finance a the feet
OF Jefferson Davis. Yancey, Toombs
ana Alexander Stephens. Are these
also traitors. consprators and patri-
cides? Mr.. Morton has taken a for
midable contract in this utterance of
MS. He not only atlantis the hon
esty and patriotism of the South.
but he charges millions of his fellow
citizens. West and North. with trea-
son. Does he, then commit himself
10 the assertion that all these men
nave gone over to the teachings of
secession, and that vote for silver
means a call for the resurrection of
the dead Confederacy?
Mr.. Morton has spoken unadvis-
edly. These Southern gentlemen are
as patriotic as he is. The honor and
the welfare of the country are as
safe in their hands as they would be
In his. They represent section
which is as enlightened, as patriotic
and as valorous as the section which
he represents. He has no warrant
for denouncing them as traitors and
agents of sedition because they do
not happen 10 agree with him. We
believe-certainly we hope-that