Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-10-06
EDWARD J. PHELPS.
EX-MlNISTER TO ENGLAND
TIRED OF DEMOCRACY.
Re No Longer represents His Views on
the Leading Issues OF the Age
Would Rob the Creditor With Free
Silver Coinage.

4
20 England, has written the following
| letter, in which he urges all true dem
| ocrats to join in defeating the candi-
| dates who stand on the un-democratic
| platform adopted at Chicago:
l regard the pending presidential
| election as presenting the most dan
gerous crisis that this country has
ever encountered. 1t does not, in my
| judgment, involve any political con-
troversy nor any question Of the SUI
premacy of party, for such considera-
| tons are lost sight Of in the far great
er gravity of the situation. The real
| issue is one upon which all patriotic
men and all who are interested in the
prosperity and welfare of the country
| should find themselves upon one side
and opposed to a common enemy.
The attack that we have to resist
| is not upon the policy but upon the life
Of the nation, for they would take it's
| life who destroy the means by which it
lives-the business of many thousands
and the industry of millions. On these
we are all, whether rich or poor, high
or low, alike dependent. Those who
are Independently rich are very few
in proportion to the 70,000,000 of Amer
lean people, the vast majority of whom
gain their living by some form or 9TH
er of useful employment. That there
should be prosperity in some of these
employments and not in others, or
among one class of people and not
among others, is impossible, for they
all rest among a common foundation
and are affected by the same consid-
erations. Business" is a generic term
and comprehends all lawful indus
tries. When it is stimulated, all
profit; when it is depressed all suffer.
No part Of the body can escape the
effect of general paralysis or fail to
get the benefit of general good health.
When business tlourishes, the laborer
is in demand; when it declines, he
stands idle in the market place.
Business of whatever sort in a coun-
try like ours, rich in resources, full of
energy and vitality, with all harvests
everywhere ready for the sickle, rests
chiefly upon two factors-public conf
dence and a sound and stable currency.
When either is-and much more when
both are-impaired or even gravely
threatened business suffers, general
depression comes, labor declines, and
the wolf approaches many door.
Without confidence there can be no
credit, no enterprise. Capital is hoard
ed. sent abroad, or lies idle, and all
industries diminish or cease, and the
surest way the world has ever seen to
| destroy confidence is to debase the
currency and TO make 1t uncertain
from day to day how much dollar is
worth and how much it is going to
count for in the near future-to take
away, as is now proposed one-half it's
value to begin with and to set the
other half to fluctuating to an indefi-
mite extent, with the rising and the
setting OF the sun and the approach of
every storm.
There is, therefore, in my judgment,
10 man more criminal or who is q
worse public enemy than he who en-
cages in or countenances that infa-
nous and destructive attempt, because
| the less a man has. or the less he
earns, the more necessary it is to him
| that the value Of that little should be
maintained and made sure, and that
the few dollars in his pocket should
| be as good dollars as there are. AS
we'll might the steerage passengers in
| d vessel in midocean, weary of their
privations, be melted by some mis-
| chief maker to scuttle the ship in or
| der to drown the inmates of the more
| luxurious cabins, unconscious that they
| themselves must be equally the VIC
| Tins of the common calamity.
The party is already hopelessly dis
rupted on the issue presented. We
| cannot follow both it's divisions at the
same time. however desirable it might
| be, since they are moving in opposite
| directions. On the one side are the
| old time-honored principles Of the
| party, under which all its great tradi-
tons have been generated, and which
all its illustrious leaders have advo-
| Gated. Chief and foremost among
these principles always in times past
| has been the maintenance of sound
| and honest money. of dollars that are
| dollars, of national stamp upon them
| that does not lie.
On the same side are it's most trust
| ed present statesmen and leaders. and
very large proportion at the least of
its better and most instructed ele-
ment. Which way shall We go, then,
since we cannot go both ways? With
it's statesmen or with its camp follow
ers? With its principles or with it's
organization stampeded and graded by
| its enemies? In which direction lies
| the future of the party if it is to have
any future? And who are they who
| will control it hereafter, when this
tyranny shall be overpast?" Let no
man be afraid to be right on this ques-
| ton, for it is the right that will tri-
| umph in the end, whether it reforms
| the party or destroys it.