Birmingham state herald., 1896-02-28

of straddle in the Chicago convention. l To thlS policy the administration is now | thoroughly committed, and from this | time forward the president and his fol- 1 lowers, in a quiet, but none the less ef-
 fective way, will take a hand in the cam l paign. MT. Cleveland has given 1t out 1 that there will be no more straddle on | the currency question If he can prevent. l The time has passed in which either Of | the great parties can temporize with that l question:. he said recently, and retain | the respect of the country. It must be one thing or the other. The people want | frankness. not juggling with words. Consequently the administration forces will gather at Chicago determined to se-
 cure, if possible, the adoption of an un- equivocal declaration in favor of the present monetary standard and retire
 ment of greenbacks, as recommended by
 the president and the secretary of the treasury in their communications to con
 gress.
 "President Cleveland, am able to say on competent evidence, believes it would be better for the democratic party to
 take this position and lose the election than to declare for free coinage and win
 1t. He believes the Chicago convention will mark a crisis in the history of the party and of the country. If the party succumbs to the tempta tion to gather
 within it's ranks all the peculiar elements of modern politics on a free silver plat
 form, it will go to ruin. On the other
 hand, if it takes a. place as the sound money, conservative and trustworthy
 party of the country, it will have before it a long life of usefulness and power
 In the opinion of the president the silver
 craze Will soon have run it's course. It
 is too illogical to live in the minds of
 people as intelligent as our people area
 people who read, think, study and ana lyze as do no other people of the world If the democratic party graspS at this tenn
 porary proffer of reinforcement it will
 only seal it's own doom and deserve it's fate"
 The keynote of the programme of the
 administration is mo compromise with
 silver" To that end all the forces of the
 delegations from the non-democratic
 states will be directed, and an earnest
 effort will be made to divide the delega-
 tions from the democratic states. With
 the power of the administration and all
 its officeholders and appliances. the re- suit may be regarded as favorable to the
 mo compromise" policy. To secure such a platform the president is willing to im- peril the democratic party. He appears to close his eyes to the fact that the dem- ocratic party from the beginning of it's
 history has held together by compromis- ing differences and attaining the best re- suits possible in the line of it's great fun damental principles. No party has ever yet secured everything demanded or wished for by the various factions which make up it's great army of workers. The ends for which our fathers strug- gled in making the constitution were not all accomplished. Differences were com promised and the government under which we live was the outcome of diver
 gent views. It has been truthfully said
 that our constitution is a bundle of com
 promises. If our fathers could meet to-
 gether in spirit of harmony and could
 reconcile their opinions upon great prin-
 ciples which lie at the cornerstone of
 liberty surely we of this day may safely
 initiate their patriotism.
 It is a fact well known to the present
 generation that for nearly twenty years
 we got along upon paper currency,
 without either gold or silver in circula-
 tion, and during that period the country,
 grew in wealth as it has never done be- fore or since. Yet now at this late day 1t is proposed to make party test of the opinions of democrats upon the machin- cry that is to represent exchanges of property We are to forsake all other questions which we have been told for
 years are of supreme importance, the
 tariff, the rights of the states, the
 usurpation of the judiciary, the alarm
 ing power of national banks, and the
 many other matters which can be safely
 solved only within the lines and by the fundamental principles of the democratic party. All of these matters. are to be
 relegated to the rear and the test of de- mocracy is to be recognition of the sole gold standard.
 If this plan of the administration is to be forced upon the Chicago convention it | can only be done by the votes of the un- | democratic states, and we are brought | face to face with the danger of a breach | in the convention. If the south and west | are driven out of that convention by a | requirement which they cannot indorse | they will take with them the democratic | states and they will fly the old colors of | the party. It now looks as if they would | be strong enough to elect the president | and majority of the next house. In | any event they would be able to throw | the election into the present house, and | that body being equally divided by | states and failing to choose president | the vice-president elected by the silver l senate would become president after the | 4th of March. 1S97