Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1896-06-27
REPUBLICAN, NATIONAL TICKET
PETTIGREW WALKS OUT.

Much comment is being submitted
by the state press upon the course pur-
sued by Senator Pettigrew in the matter
Of his walking out Of the national con-
vention at st. Louis and turning his back
upon the republican party. Some of
these comments are caustic and severe
to q degree which the CHRoNIcLE be-
lisvss to be excessive, and manifestly
unjust when the fact Of that gentleman's
sincere and persistent devotion to the
silver cause is fully considered. While
the CHRONICLE is not disposed to make
any apology for Mr.. Pettigrew's course.
nor does it in any sense indorse it, it
does not feel justified in administering
csnsure of character so harsh and Wit
riolic as that which some Of it's contem-
poraries have seen fit TO publish. The
CHRONICLE, while it is not in sympathy
with the sentiment which dominated
the step taken by the senator fully APP
preciates the embarrassing and humiliat-
ing situation in which he was placed,
and the painful struggle by which he
was confronted in the matter of the
endorsement of party platform, which,
in what he conceived to be its most
vital issue, was in direct antagonism
with his long cherished and deep seated
convictions of justice and right. We
are net disposed to ignore the great SER
vices that he has rendered the state in
,hss-@fss~ia, es,sss's- -ss,s csn orlv ras~st.
to attain the degree of honor and politi.
cal fame he enjoys.
While we have 10 words Of censure,
we do not hesitate to say, that his course
was manifestly unwise and unwarranted
inasmuch as the highest hopes OF the
silver idol he so dsvoutly worships is
conferred in the great and progressive
party from which he has now so rashly
seeded. 1t is the hopo of the CHRoN-
IcLE that the world may be won over to
the silver cause, and that, through an
international agreement. which the re-
publican party strongly advocates, the
widest hopes of Senator Pettigrew and
his silver associates may lie fully realiz-
ed. The CHRONICLE is, and has ever
been friendly to silver, having an abid.
ing faith in its eventual triumph, when
the great commercial nations of the
world shall have become convinced of
the wisdom and advisability Of its adop.
ton as one of the standard money
metals, but it has nothing but pity, not
abuse, for the misguided boilers from
the republican ranks who would blindly
defeat tn is greatly desired end by the
adoption ofa policy too narrow and con-
tracted in its scope to warrant the at.
tainment Of satisfactory results. In
explanation Of his course. the senator
has given out the following authorized
statement:
III left the convention because I be.
lisys the financial question TO be the
only vital question in this campaign,
and as could not support or advocate
the single gold standard. l thought l
owed it to the convention not to longer
participate in the proceedings, and /
believe that the maintenance Of the
gold standard must result in a further
decline in prices to the utter ruin of all
producers Of wealth, and that even the
adoption OF that standard is the cause
Of the panic, enforced idleness and mis-
cry among our people. believe tt Q
gold Of the OF the world is cornered by
professional creditors Of the world who
hold promises for the future deliveries
Of the whole mass of gold available for
money more than forty times over in
the form of bonds. mortgages and other
credits. And for people who are
already debtors to multiply these
promises further is the height Of folly.
l believe a majority of the people of my
state are with me on this question. If
! am mistaken. with the issue clearly
defined, they will approve or condemn
my zeal next November. / have felt
impellsd to this course by sense of
duty, by deep conviction that the vel
fare of my constituents depended upon
q proper solution Of the question, and l
could not listen to any argument of
personal comfort or interest which
might be presented to turn me from the
course in which ] believed myself to be
impclled."