Evening star., 1896-07-30
Full Text of His Address at Alfred,
Maine.
WELCOME TO SOUND MONEY MEN
individuals Better Than the Plat
form of Their Party.
SILVER CLAIMS ANALYZED


Star:
IF 1 were going to give good advice to
the people of the whole United States,
should take this time to do it.
"Just now there is a great deal of froth
and foam in the air and some time Is really
needful to disclose clearly to every eye how
much of 1t is the result of the temporary
breeze which stills at nightfall. and how
little there is Of that heavy ground swell
which shows that great elementary forces
are at work. How very suddenly all this
rush and stir has set itself into action. Two
months ago no man Of any standing would
have risked his reputation as prophet by
limiting the slightest doubt Of republican
success. Four years of actual trial of the
opposition under the guidance OF Its best
and twice-trusted leader. had left no shadow
of question as to public duty.
However far the republican party might
have fallen short of perfection. nevertheless
all men felt that 1t was the best party, 1uss
now to draw nigh to- for whatever is to be
left to us of sound government, commercial
success and business prosperity. On that
we were all agreed, some OF us VINO were
democrats, regretfully. for we all hate to be
classed with the unsuccessful, whose con-
demnation is at hand, even II We gain by the
change; others of US who were republicans,
cheerfully, but without exultadon; for we
knew how hard the task must be to rebuild
out of he ruins of the last four years the
stately mansions of national happiness.
prosperity and self-respect wherein our peo-
pie hved until that unfortunate election of
1892.
Two months have slipped away-hardly
time to ripen strawberry-and there are
those who tell US that all things have
changed. but these very men who are being
arrayed for decent burial had burst the
cerements of the grave. and, transfgured
by some new arrangement Of crowns of
thorns and crosses of gold. were to lead us
to a new happiness, and even repair all the
damage they themselves had wrought. Now
this may be so, but to me it does not seem
probable. Human experience in every walk
of life teaches US that those who have blum
dered will blunder again, and that the wisest
course is not to employ ship captain who
has not yet emerged from his last ship
wreck. but the safe sailor who has never
lost ship, passenger, or letter, but who
has sailed safe through every sea- He may
have lost masts and sails, and even been
rudderless for hours, but IL he has every
time come safe to shore, better have him
than all the landsmen who are forever
10 tell of what they have done. Boosters
are worth nothing. Deeds are facts, and
are forever and ever. Talk dies on the
empty air Better pound of performance
than shipload of language
Democrats and Their Party.
"But is it wise or just to class all demo-
Gratis together and to declare them all
wrong. then announce they must be beaten
because they are democrats? That would
be very unwise. very unjust and senseless
altogether. 1t would fiout all history, and
especially our own. Parties are one thing.
their individual members may be another.
Parties seldom follow their best men. They
follow their average sense In real action
there can never be but two parties, the
creating party and the retarding party.
The progressive party may be unwise in its
progress, and the retarding party may be
unwse in its conservatism, but both serve
good purpose and between them both the
world slowly and safely moves ahead.
Dreadfully slow sometimes, but 1t does al
ways move ahead.
perhaps some one will say here we have
a creative party, which has sprung up in a
night like a mushroom and created q new
system of finance. My friends. you will find
that that mushroom is not good to eat, and
that that progress will land you in the ditch.
Now all progress AVOIDS bitches.
II have said that it would be unwise, un-
Just and senseless to confound the demo-
cratic organization with individual demo-
Gratis. i have said, also. that that would be
flouting a part of our own history, and
is within the memory of a third, and per-
haps half, of this very audience which lis
tens to me, that when the terrible war of
the rebellion burst FORTH tens Of thousands
Of democrats, politicians. strong party men,
Sprang TO their feet, representing hundreds
of thousands. aye! millions, and thence
forth and always were part and parcel of
the bone and sinew of the victorious re-
public. What matter if the party had gone
wrong? They were right One man among
them-one man aione-by a single sentence,
gave aid and succor to this government
which outweighed q whole army corps of
veterans, musket on shoulder.
When Stephen A. Douglass declared,
after Sumter was fired n,that thenceforth
there could be but two parties-patriots and
traitors he won the respect even Of foes,
and an imperishable place in history.
I'VE shall certainly welcome all such men
today, not that they are to be republicans,
for they will not be, but because they are
patriots. for that they must be.
Two months ago. as have already said,
everybody conceded the election Of the re-
publican ticket. What has happened since
then? Have the four1years of history been
blotted out? Not one scrap of them. Is
our condition any better? Rather worse.
Has the party changed any which caused
the most of our unhappineSs? Yes. there
has been I change. but 1t has been for the
worse. Its best men are leaving 1t. If this
ratior. has thrice at the polls condemned
this party when 1t was better, are we now
going to place 1t In power when 1t has got
their best men present, are they going to
be success on finance with their best men
absent?
Something Must BE Done.
"But We are all In a bad way. and some
thing must be done. Yes, we are IN a bad
way and something must be done, but don't
make the mistake of thinking that any
something will do. sick man in proper
cases had better take medicine, but he had
better be careful what medicine he takes.
There are some political orators who think
II they can draw a rose-colored picture 1t
ought to convert a continent. What a rosy
picture We had painted for US In 1882!
What millions we were to expect! We were
to sell In the dearest and buy In the cheap
est market We were to have both ends
of the bargain. We took their word for It,
and here we are. And now the least credi-
BILE part of these same gentlemen are
smearing the canvas with another picture
for which they want us to pay another
four years, or perhaps ten. of this nations
nfe. Men deceived once are human; men
deceived twice by the same men are fools.
There Is another class of political ora
tory which deserves reprobation-the ora
tory which paints the enemy in deep black
If anybody had curiosity to see what said
of our opponents in 1892 they will find that
did not venture any denunciation which
depicts one-tenth of the evil which has
happened. When / told you two years ago
what We republicans would do II chosen. l
drew no fine picture. but simply said to you
that all We could do would be to prevent
evil. That We did. and 1t takes good
deal of sense sometimes to do no evil. We
tried to do better. and had the democrats
from the north risen above party for good