Birmingham state herald., 1896-09-09
DEMOCRACY AND BANKS.


 democratic party, in national conven- ton assembled under the immediate in- spiration of Andrew Jackson, said:
 We declare unqualified hostility to bank notes and paper money as circu- lating medium, because gold and silver is the only safe and constitutional cur rency.'
 At that time gold and silver were ad- mitted alike to coinage in the hints of the United States at a ratio slightly above 16 to l, and from 1857 to 1873 at ratio slightly below 16 to 1, and Jackson had just achieved his triumph over the
 money power and the United States
 bank, victory greater than that he won
 over British power in a somewhat differ
 ent guise at New Orleans.
 On the 5th of May, 1840, at the same place. in convention, the democratic
 party declared:
 "6. That congress has no power to charter a United States bank that we believe such an institution one of deadly hostility to the best interests of the l country, dangerous to our republican in- 1 stltutions and the liberties of the people, and calculated to place the business of the country within the control of the concentrated money power and above the laws and will of the people. ''S. That the separation of the moneys of the government from banking institu- ttons Is indispensable to the safety of the funds of the government and the rights Of the people,"
 These sixth and eighth paragraphs of
 the platform of 1S40 were reaffrmed in
 the platforms of 1S44, 1S4S, 1852 and in 1856. with the additional declaration in 1856 that congress has no power to char
 ter a national bank" In 1860 both the Breckinridge and Douglass wings of the party reatfirmed the platform of 1856 in
 it's entirety. and added some blanks re-
 latlng to slavery and the territories ex- presalve of their divergent views The platform of 1864, in the midst of the war, does not refer to financial mat ters.
 The platform of 1868 demanded:
 "S. Payment of the public debt of the United States as rapidly as practicable; {; all moneys drawn from the people by taxation, except so much as is reouisite | for the necessities of the government | economically administered, being honest | ly applied to such payment and where l the obligations of the government do not l expressly state upon their face or the 1 law under which they were issued does | not provide that they shall be paid in | coin, they ought, in right and in justice l 10 be paid In the lawful money of the | United States.
 "5. One currency for the government and the people, the laborer and the office holder, the pensioner and the soldier, the producer and the bondho,der.' In 1872 the democratic regular conven- tion adopted the platform and candi- dates Of tho liberal republicans, which favored a speedy return to specie pay ments The straightouts, who nomi- mated Charles O'Connor were silent on
 financial topics.
 The platform i'll 1876 declares: Reform Is necessary to establish a | sound currency, restore the public credit
 and maintain the national honor." | This declaration was made after the
 secret demonstration of silver had been | discovered. and while the gold standard 1 was in full force and doing it's deadly | work. and the national banks were null | tiplylng and fiourishing Yet with this | tha very condition the counterfeit pre- l tenders to democracy now wish to renew | and perpetuate-the democracy in 1876 de- l clared, reform Is necessary to establish | sound currency, restore the public credit and maintain the national honor" l What the democratic party in this de- 1 liveiancs meant by "a sound currency
 is shown by its persistent efforts in con- l gross ever since to undo the crime of 1873 and restore silver to it's former 1 rightful place as money of the .constitu- ton, in all respects on the same footing with gold. These efforts were Just on | the point CT succeeding when the ruin l ous blisht of Clevelandism descended on | the party in 1922.
 The platform of 1880 declared for l "home rule. honest money, consisting of | gold and silver, and paper convertible | into coin on demand" etc. The platform of 1884, on which Mr. | Cleveland Was nominated and elected | and on which he sham iessly trampled, l says: We believe in honest money the gold l aud silver coinage of the constitution 1 and a circulating tns,iium convertible in- l to such money without loss" The platform of 1888 reaffirms without