The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-07-30
SILVER PLATFORM.
The Onc-Planked Platform That Will
Be Presented to Silver Convention.

L.
platform decided upon by the resolutions
committee of the national silver conven-
| ton:
The national silver party in conven-
ton assembled hereby adopt the following
declaration of principles:
! The paramount issue at this time in
! the United States is indisputably the
money question. 1t is between the gold
standard gold bonds and currency on
the one hand and the bimetallic standard,
no bonds and government currency, on
the other On this issue we declare our
selves to be i'll favor of a distinctively
opposed to the single gold standard and
demand the immediate return to the con-
stitutonal standard of gold and silver
| by the restoration of the unrestricted
coinage of both gold and silver into stand
ard money at the ratio of 16 to l and up
on the terms of exact equality, as they eX-
listed prior to 1873; the silver coin shall
be full legal tender, fully as good for all
debts and dues, private and public, and
we fovor such legislation as will prevent
| for the future the demonstration of any
| kind of legal tender money by private
| contract. we hold that the power to con-
troll and regulate paper currency is in
| scparable from the power to coin money,
and hence that all currency intended to
circulate as money shall be issued and
its volumes controlled by the general gov
eminent and shall be legal tender. We
are unalterably opposed to the issue by
the United States of Understanding
| bonds in times of peace, and we denounce
| MS Il blundCr, worse than Il crime, the
present treasury policy concurred in by
the republicans, of plugging the country
| into debt by hundreds of millions in the
vain attempt to maintain the gold stand
ard and by borrowing gold, and we de-
| mand the payment of all coin obligations
| of the United States as provided by eX-
listing laws, in either gold or silver coin at
| the option of the government and not at
| the option of the creditor.
The decentralization of silver in 1873
enormously increased the demand for
gold, enhancing its purchasing power and
| lowering al prices measured by that
| standard; and since that unjust and in
defensible act the prices of American
products have decreased upon an average
nearly oo per cent; carrying down with
| them proportionately the money value of
all other forms of property. Such a fall
of prices has destroyed the profits of
legitimate industry, injuring the pro-
Queer for the benefit of the non-producer,
increasing the burden of the debtor,
swelling the gains of the creditor, paralyz,
ing the productive energy of the Ameri
can people, RELOCATING to idleness vast
numbers of willing workers. sending the
shadows of despair into the homes of the
honest toiler, filling the land with tramps.
and paupers. and building up colossal
fortunes at the money centers.
In the effort to maintain the gold stand
ard the country has within the last two
years, in Il time of profound peace and
plenty. been loaded down with S262 ,000,-
600 of additional Understanding debts,
under such circumstances as to allow a
syndicate of native and foreign bankers
| to realize Il net profit of millions on a
single deal.
| 1t stands confesscdly that the gold
standard can only be upheld by so depict
ing our paper currency as to force the
prices of our products below the Europ-
can and even below the Asiatic level. to
enable us to sell in foreign markets. thus
aggravating the very evils of which our
people so bitterly complain, degrading
| American labor and striking at the foun-
dation of our civilization itself.
| The advocates of the gold standard
| persistently claim that the cause of our
distress is er-production-tha we have
produced so much that it has made us
pOor-which implies that the true remedy
is to close the factory, abandon the farm
and throw Il multitude of people out of
employment, doctrine that leaves us
ullHtl NNu anu ulSlltuIltlltll anu uDSOlulp-
ly without hope for the future. We af-
firm it to be unquestioned that there can
be no such economic paradox as an over
production and at the same time tens of
| thousands of our fellow citizens remain
ing half clothed and half fed, and who are
pitcously clamoring for the common
necessities of life and the gracious favor
or divine providence.
lnasmuch as the patriotic majority of
the Chicago convention embodied in the
financial plank of its platform the Drin-
ciplos enunciated in the platform of the
American bimetallic party promulgated
at Washington, December %. 1896, and
herein reiterated. is the real issue in the
campaign, therefore, recognizing their
nominees cmbody those patriotic princi-
pies, we recommend that this convention
nominate William j. Bryan of Nebraska
for president, and Arthur Sewal of
Maine for vice president.
That over and above all questions we
are i'll favor of restoring to the people
of the United States the time hOnored
money of the cOnstitutiOn-gold and silver
not one, but both-the money of Washing
ton and Hamilton and Jefferson and
Monroe and Jackson and Lincoln, to the
end that the American people may re-
ceive honest pay for honest products. that
the American debtor may pay his just OBJ
legations in an honest standard and not in
Il standard that has appreciated 100 per
cent above all the great staples of our
country; and, further, that silver stand,
ard countries may be deprived of the I'M
just advantage they now enjoy in the diff
ference of exchange between gold and
silver-an advantage which tariff legis-
latiOn alone can not overcome.
We therefore, confidently appeal to
the people of the United States to leave
in allegiance for the moment all other
questions, however important and even
momentous they may appear, to sunder,
if necessary, all former party ties and af-
tiliations and unite in one supreme effort
| to free themselves and their children from
| the domination of the money power-a
power more destructive than any which
has ever been fastened upon the civilized
men of any race or in any age. And
| upon the contamination Of our desire and
efforts we invoke the gracious favor of
Divine Providence.
\ motion to adopt the platform was
made.
Mr.. Hesse of Illinois objected and q
wordy wrangle followed. 1t ended in
the adoption of the platform. 1t was de-
cided by the chairman that the recon-
i "