The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-02-12
THE PLATFORM.
The Debate Continued Strong Letter.

The Debate Continued-A Strong Letter.
Editor Representative.
In your last number is a communica-
ton from DR.. Johnson in regard to the
resolutions, adopted a. the last State
League meeting Now. am profoundly
impressed with the doctors noble and I'M
selfish devotion and the ability and zeal
with which he has battled in the cause
of the people;7 therefore, # ] disagree
somewhat with his position, I hope it
will not be taken as the result of fac
tious or unreasonable spirit OF opposi-
ton. / will only add in justification of
my course that / have been N the peo-
pies movement ever since l voted for
Peter Cooper. The story which the doc
tor tells about the accommodating and
successful missionary may be used lit
tie further for illustration. We will sup
pose that this enterprising divine
breaches a sermon in which he insists on
the necessity Of belief n only one Of
the fudametal doctrines of his church.
An enquirer comes to him and says:
when you preached here last you pro-
claimed the absolute necessity of belief
in two or three other underlying prici-
pies of your church How is this?" ''Well,
NY lIAcllU, says luc W cdCuCI. SOlAC
people said l was advocating too many
issues. and you know the nearer you get
to nothing, the fewer objections can be
urged against your doctrine
With only the single silver plank, this
is about the attitude that our party would
be in IN the eyes of the average voter.
What an opportunity it would afford the
enemy's speakers and papers to ridicule
and denounce us for apostasy to our
principles. How could our speakers face
audiences where last campaign they
strenuOusly advocated government own
ership of great monopolies which they
did do, almost without exception? Let
us try and retain at least the respect of
our opponents and not be on the defen-
sive, trying to explain why we aban
doned about all our former principles.
I ask my single-plank, free-silver friend
how do you propose to accomplish your
object? And he replies confidently: "By
passing laws admitting silver to our m.nts
on the same terms as gold is at present,
and giving it equal power in paying all
debts-this is all we ask. Yes, this is
all you ask; but it enough? Have
you ever thought Of the power of Roth
ch:ld's International Gold Trust? Do you
know that more than 20 years ago they
fastened their clutches on this country
and have maintained their grip ever
since, almost without an effort-and that
they practically control the gold of the
world? What, then. with the present
unlimited and unrestricted field in this
country for the irresponsible greed of
private and corporate monopoly, is there
to prevent them from acquiring a con-
trolling interest in not only our silver
mines but those of the world? You may
not have thought of this before; but you
can not show any reason why they would
not do this if there was a prospect of
fleeing this nation in doing so. Already
our silver mines are largely held by Eng
lish syndicates and we hear of those en-
terprising gentlemen Rothschild and
Barney Barnato, investing heavily in
Mexican silver mines. But, says our
SILVER friend, Even in that event, the
silver would naturally seek our mints
as the best market That depends on
how it would affect our Rothchild mas
tiers. BUT it, you want to take your
chances..s Under their rule, we of the
Peoples Party do not propose to- The
only way. that, to me, seems possible to
make free-silver legislation sure and eff
fective u.s. n addition to the demand for
it, to supplement it with the further de-
mand for government ownership Of
mOnopolies, which are detrimental and
dangerous to the interests of the people.
This, in addition to demand. for the
iniat.ve and referendum-if l am at all
correctly informed ON the sentiment of
the great mass Of the Peoples Party
would be accepted as a satisfactory plat
form and Wotild be sustained by them.
And ] think 1 am speaking for that
great majority again when I say that this
is as far. as they will permit the Omaha
platform to be pruned, and that fur
Their trimming VIII result in very Sc
rious loss to our party. The element
which has furnished us the fire and en-
thusiasm, aye, and a large portion of the
sinews OF war, will sulk in their tents.
We must not forget that the most i'm
portant thing to do is to preserve our
party organization and spirit. We hear
a great deal about the forming of "new''
silver party. 1t is impossible that a
very large and efficient organization can
be effected IN time for the next cam
paign. The silver leaders, l think. nm
derstand this; they must know that they
will have to form their party out of wide
ly divergent and anita gonistic elements
which will not readily coalesce. We oc-
cupy the coign Of vantage These peop]e
are mostly coming to us if we preserve
dignity and consistency enough to retain
their respect-and we can not do This
on a single silver plank, even if accom-
panied with mild suggestion of the
referendum.
Cowardice is not admired. either in
men or parties. While we must ever in
sist on the referendum as foundation
| principle. still at the best I fear it will
be years before it can be made applicable
to federal affairs The proposed single
plank, free-silver policy is merely fight
ing results-it is pushing back the swing
| ing catapult that returns to plague Won
with a harder blow for every succeeding
effort Too, long have we suffered mon
! opoly to stalk over our fields, tramplinc
down our grain-shocks, content to follow
| and set them up again-trying, in a SER
| vile way. to repair the damage inflicted.
| Now, when we propose to exercise little
| intelligence and manhood and take the
monster by the throat and cry Halt, on
your l.fer' we are told to be careful how
we act; we might offend a very small
and exclusive clique, who are advocates
of free coinage merely because they
| couldn't hold office or attain prominence
unless they were and who have no more