Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-08-07

HON. W. 1. DOUGLAS LETTER.
He Repudiates Bryan and SewaII and the
Chicago Platform.

facturer and business man. He also
attended the Chicago convention and
his Judgment of the doings of that as
when he says the real Democracy of
the nation has not held a convention
il must be assumed that he has tan
gible grounds for the assertion. Read
his letter to the Democratic city com
rnittee of Br0ckton:
To the Democratic City Committee of
Brockton. Mr., John Nolan, Secretary:
GentlemenI beg to acknowledge re-
ceipt of the Invitation from your sec
cretary to be present at your meeting
this evening. My family being out Of
town, it would necessitate my being
away from them over night to attend
your meeting therefore, with your per
mission, | would prefer to give you by
letter my views as to the lndorsiilei'
of the Chicago ticket.
! am still a Democrat attehueu
the Chicago convention as Democrat
and | returned home more firmly I'M
dressed than ever that the true prln-
ciples of Democracy We're the salvation
IF thA nation But | am sorry to con-
fess that the real Democracy of the
nation has not vet held its national
convention. True. the Chicago gath
erino was the regularly called conVen-
ton of the Democratic party, but Pop
ulism and anarc hism stole the guisc
of Democracy and secured control of
that convention. Democratic principles,
tradition and precedent were set aside,
and Populism stalked boldly up and
down the aisles in supreme control Of
a Democratic national convention. UNI
willing to listen to reason or argument,
and disrespecting everything that con-
serVative Democrats hold sacred.
cannot indorse the platform of re-
pudiation and plumber formulated by
that convention: neither can | support
the nominees of that convention, As
/ have before stated.I am still Demo-
crat: but when the honor. the integrity
the very life of my country is attacked,
then partisanship dWindles into insig
niiicance. | believe in my country first,
party politics after And 50 belieV
ing / or no other man who is a Demo-
crat from principle, can support Bryan
and SewaH the Populist nominees of
the alleged Democratic national con-
vention.
/ am deeply interested in the mate
rial welfare of the city Of Brockton and
its people. as wei as the welfare of the
people Of every section Of our country.
What is for their good is for my per-
sonal benefit; what is for their injury
is my personal loss. After long and
assiduous study of the question in all
it's details. ! array myself on the side
of the gold standard advocates, some
times called the sound money men.
| take this stand because / believe its
triumph is for the best interests of all
the people of Brockton. as we'll as for
the best interests of the country as
whole. Free silver at the ratio of l6
to | means misery and deprivation for
my work people and the serious con
traction OF my business. Without the
prosperity of the common people who
are in fact the capitalists as we'll as
the controllers of the nation manufac-
turers and employers Of all kinds of
labor cannot prosper. With the fac
tories of 3rocllton closed and our
work people searching for the work
which cannot be found. what is to be-
come Of the thousands upon thousands
of dollars invested by these people in
homes, in savings banks. or in insur-
ance policies? If you viii but consider
for moment you can see that this IL
to / craze can be of no possible benefit
to our friends of the south and west
and is sure to bring misery and dis
aster upon US Of the north and east
For the last three years our country
has been put to a severe strain by the
long continued and widespread business
depression. What has caused it?
Many men have many remedies. but
I..J 9
1873 and the Sherman act of 1890 are
the principal causes of the hard times"
through which we are today passing
The BlandAlison dollar coined under
the act of 1873 was worth 81 cents in
gold. At the time the measure was
being urged ii was asserted that the
government could go into the market
and buy 81 cents worth of silver bull
lion and coin it into d dollar, and the
profits arising from this transaction.
could be turned into the treasury This
was surely a dishonest transaction.
but now our silver friends tell us that
the government can coin SO cents worth
of silver into a dollar and we win have
honest money. Silver money is not
now. never has been, or ever can be
intrinsiCally worth more than its cur
rent bullion value. If the Bland Ali
son act was dishonest, what can we
say of the free coinage of silver at the
ratio of Is to /?
Previous to 1873, the date of the So
called .great crime" there had been
coined about 100000 silver dollars.
From that date up to and including
1890, legal tender silver to the amount
of 43O,000.000 was coined under the
Bland-AllisOn act. Under the Sher-
man act there has been issued $l62, 900
600 Of treasury notes based upon sill
Yer, which gave us a total of 1892 600
oOo of silver issued by the government
since the great crime(?) of 1873 which
in fact was not a crime at all. The
government in 1876 simply discontin-
ued the coinage of the trade dollar
which was coined solely for trade with
China not to be circulated in this coun-
try. And this trade dollar. let it not
be forgotten. was worth los cents in
gold. because it was made for export
The silver producing states were heart
lily in favor Of the discontinuance Of