The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1896-06-24

resumption of specie payments in 1879;
since then every dollar has been as
good as gold. We are uualterably op-
posed to every measure calculated to
debase our currency or impair the
credit of our country.
We are therefore opposed to the free
coinage of silver, except by iuterna-
tioual agreement with the leading COM
ucrcial nations of The world, which We
pledge ourselves to promote Z; aud until
such agreement can be obtained, the
existing gold standard must be pre-
served. All our silver and paper cur
rency must be maintained with parity
with gold, and we favor all measures to
maintain inviolably the obligations Of
the United States, and all our money,
whether coin or paper, at the present
standard. the standard Of the most en-
ligbtened nations Of the earth
The veterans of the Uniou army
deserve and should receive fair treat
mcnt and generous recognition
Whenever practicable they should be
given the preference in the natter of
employment and they are entitled to
the enactment of such laws as are
b=st calculated to secure the fulfill
ment Of the pledges made to them
in tie dark days of the country's
peril. We denounce the practice in
the pension bureau, so recklessly and
unjus.!y carried on by the present
administration, of reducing pensions
and arbitrarily dropping names from
the rolls, as deserving the severest
condemnation of the American peo-
pie.
Our foreign policy should be at all
times firm, vigorous and digniGed,
and all our interests in the western
hemisphere carefully watched and
guarded The Hawaiian Islands
should be controlled by the United
States, and no foreign power should
be permitted to interfere with them ;
the Nicaraguan canal should be:built,
owned and operated by the United
States and by the purchase of the
Danish Islands we should secure a
proper and much needed naval station
in the West Indies.
The massacres in Armenia have
aroused the dep sympathy and just
indignation of the American people.
and we believe that the United States
should exercise all the interference it
can properly exert to bring these
atrocities to an end. In Turkey,
American residents have been ex-
posed to the ~gravest dangers and
American property destroyed. There
and everywhere, American citizens
and American property must be abso.
lately protected at all hazards and at
any cost
We reassert the Monroe doctrine
in it's full extent, and we reafirm the
right of the United States to give
the doctrine effct by responding to
the appeal of any American State fol
friendly intervention in case of Euro
pean encroachment. We have not
interfered, and shall not interfere,
with the existing possessions Of the
European powers in this hemisphere,
but those possessions must not or
any pretext be extended. We hope
fully looked forward to the eventual
withdrawal of European powers from
this hemisphere, and to the ultimate
union of al! English-spesking parts oi
the continent by the free consent o1
it's inhabitants.
From the hour of achieving theil
own independence, the people of the
United States have regarded with
sympathy the struggles of other
American peoples to free them selves
from European domination. We
watch with deep and abiding interest
the heroic battle of the Cuban patriots
against cruelty and oppression, and
our best hopes 60 out for the full
success Of their determined contest
for liberty.
The government. of Spain, having
lost control of Cuba, and being un-
able to protect the property or lives
of resident American citizens, or te
comply with it's treaty obligations
We believe that the government o
the United States should actively use
it's influence and good Offices to re
store peace and give independence te
the island.
The peace and security of the re-
public and the maintenance of itt
rightful influence among the nations
of the earth demand a naval power
commensurate with it's position
and responsibility. We therefore
favor the continued enlarge
ment of the navy and a complete
..,,t.,o &c t,orbor op1 cooooocf do