The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-08-06
HE IS BITTERLY OPPOSED TO
BRYAN AND THE CHICAGO
PLATFORM.
SURPRISED it TAAMRNY'S ACTION.
He Thinks the Gold Standard Demo
Gratis Should Hold IL Convention,
Adopt a Democratic Platform. but
Should Endorse Mckinley.


returned last Saturday from Europe by
the steamer Paris.
Mr.. Cochran did not forget American
politics during his trip and he has
evolved a plan by which he thinks the
defeat of the Chicago candidates may
be encompasscd Speaking of the situa-
lion he said:
II regard it as the gravcst in the his
Dry of the country. exceeding in i'm
Dortance the crisis of 1860. The scccs-
sion movement was but an attempt TO
divide this government between two GOV
crnmcnts, each of them designed to pro-
tect property within the limits of its jul
Iisdiction.
"Thc action taken at Chicago is an
attempt to paralyzc industry by using
all the powers of government to take
property from the hands of those who
created it and place it in the hands of
those who covct it. This is n question
of morals as well as of politics. No po-
ltical convention can issue n valid il
censc to commit offcnse against morali-
ty, and | decline to help Mr.. Bryan in
Il crusade against honest labor"
'Do you mean that You will actively
oppose the democratic party or abstain
from active support of itT'
''In a contest for the existence of civil
iZation no man can remain neutral.
Whoever does not support the forces of
order aids the forces of disorder. If !
can do anything to thwart movement.
the success of which should regard as
an irreparable calamity, not only to this
country but to civilized society every
where. | shall certainly do it,"
What do you think of Tammanys
action in endorsing the ticket"
II simply can't understand it. They
strongly opposed the platform ut Chica-
20 on the ground that it was an assault
on the integrity Of the nation They
decline to ratfy it even now, which
shows that they have not changed their
opinion of it. Yet they have endorsed
the candidate who stands upon it and
whose election will mean that the plat
form which they have denounced as Il
singular combination of lunacy and vii
lany shall be incorporated into the stat
ute laws of this country
"Will you support Maj. Mckinley out
right or do you favor the nomination of
another democratic ticketE'
Il believe that all democrats who are
SO thoroughly in favor of sound money
that they place the defeat above the in
tcrests of the organization of any party
should meet in convention for the pur
pose of considering the form and
methods by which they can give the
greatest effect to their opposition. For
my part. | do not believe that the nom
nation of other candidates for president
and vice president, however eminent and
deserving they might be. personally or
politically, would serve any useful pur-
pose. Nobody believes that they could
he elected and any democrat whose hos
tillty to populiSm and rcpublicanSm
would not allow him to support either
Bryan or Mckinley could show his OPP
position to both by remaining ut home
IN election day quite as well rs by vot-
ing for third ticket. 1t would he more
convenient TO himself individually and
would not create Il visible separation be-
tween himself and his party organiza-
ton"
But how can men, rupturing party
ties. be sustained by some sense of as
ISOLATION among thcmselvcsE"
That end could be attained by the
adoption of Il platform declaring for
SOUND money. against eXtravagant ap-
preparations. in favor of an economical
administration i'll every department of
government, Ill JUNbT VI II luIlu luT rev
enuc only and ample for the purpose;
against the patcrnalism of the rcpubl-
can party and the populistic socialism
of both the Chicago and the st. Louis
conventions: in favor of that American
liberty which can be maintained by so
limiting the power of the government
that it can never interfere with the daily
concerns of law-abding citizens. The
plank of pressing Importance in such Il
Ian fam a hA
plank. Now the mere election of Nc
kinlcy will be the defeat of the silver
movement
Your obvious policy. then,would he
to endorse the Mckinley clcctors?"
Precisely. The democrats who will
have achieved the success of their tinan-
cial plank by the election of Mckinley
will yet constitute an opposition to the
republican party the day after election.
based on principles which are certain
to he ultimately adopted by the people.
What is needed, therefore, is not II
new ticket but Il new platform which
will declare in mmistakable language
the cardinal features of the party faith
and which, while endorsing Mckinley.
will provide for democratic opposition to
the Mckinley administration during the
period of its existence"
What is your opinion of the ultimate
outlook?'
Everything depends on the manner in
which it is waged. TO my mind there is
but one test of prosperity which can be
applied to country and that is the rate
of wages paid labor. There can be no
prosperity where low wages are paid.
Their can be no distress when the rate
of wages is high. 1t can he easily
demonstrated that this whole free silver
movement is Il conspiracy against
wages. and if the campaign is on this
lire, | have no doubt every northern
state-that is to say, every state in the
Union in which it is practicable to hold
free election-will be carried by the
intelligence and morality of the Ameri-
can people against monstrous PROPOSE
tons submitted to them by the conven,
ton which nominated Mr.. Bryan for the
presidency"
JONES IN WASHINGTON
Tho NInp nf prrnn's Gamma ION