The Yale expositor., 1896-08-28
The Democratic Platform Strikes
OF the Governments
Foundation.
FREE SILVER NOT BlMETALLlSM.
Condition of Affairs Worse than War
Would Result from DEM
ocratic Success.


not bimetallism and showed what evil
results would follow Democratic sue
cess. He said that for the first
time since the election next preced-
ing the great Civil war. we are
required 10 guard the very founda-
tons and buwarIs of national stability,
of commercial honesty. of financial con-
duct. The Democratic party which met
al Chicago in convention in July suffered
o wonderful change in that convention.
The old oracles and guides OF the party
were rudely turned aside. II was occu-
spirit-something which has not raised
its head in the political conventions of
either party for thirty years. II there
was any one thing which the 2.OOO.OOO
of men who went out to defend this coun-
try, thirty years ago thought that they
had entirely obliterated when they re-
turned, il was the malign doctrine OF
state rights, which lay at the bottom
and was the impetus of the greatest
rebellion which ever reared its head
against a civilized government 10 and
behold. in that convention, from the
state of South Carolina, as of yOre, you
find the declaration of the same state
rights, in the same spirit as in the an
Gent time. and done in connection, my
fellow citizens. which must appeal to the
resentment and repugnance of every lib
erty-loving and COMMISSIONING man. Ev-
knows that / am not political admirer
of Grover Cleveland: but If there was
any one act of his administra ton which.
after the contentious of history nave
ceased to rage about his acts and his
memory, that will remain star-bright
forever, it was his action, when the
pulse of business beat low, when COM
mercial intercourse was cut of by rioters
in Chicago. by which. upon principles and
precedents laid down by George, Wash
ington 100 years before. he evoked the
strong arm of the United States to re-
store law and order in this country.
lAnnlause and cheers
This act is covertly land covertly is
too mild world denounced in the Chi
cago platform. More than that. If there
ton upon which the stability of the gov
eminent depends. the very Keystone of
the great arch upon which the ranged
empire stands. the ultimate principle Of
absoluteism that must exist somewhere
in all governments. IL is the courts of our
land, where men sequestered from poiti-
cal concerns and political ambitions,
holding the scales of justice even be-
tween contending passions and contend
ing rights. decide for their fellow citizens
what the law is And for more than 100
years the Supreme court of the United
States has sat i'm that exalted position,
midway in the capitol of the nation be-
tween the Senate and the House of Rep
reePntatives,' a typical object lesson of
their position and of their sublime ca
pacity to restrain either. and has done
more TO conduct the government 10 the
high plane which IL occupies. was going
10 say. than all the statesmen which this
country has ever produced. 'Applause)
The Chicago platform strikes at that
court, strikes at all courts, and cnun-
cistes its malign prophesy Of the rcor-
gnnization of that court and of any otner
sANA Nha. C..v
and passionate and repudiating edic:s Of
mistaken and misguided men, of mistaken
and misguided parties.
A Crisis Is Impending.
And worse than that. my fellow citi-
xens-worse than that! If there was
another thing which the veterans If the
last war thought they had achieved aud
which the loyal sentiment of the North
thought it had achieved. il was the OBJ
Iteration of all sectiOnalsm in this conn-
try; we were to have no South. no North
no East, no West, any more. The whole
country was to be unity. But in th. Sc
late. days. we see the solid South COM
ing up to the banks of the Ohio and the
Missouri as before the war. and with
sectional demands upon an economic is
sue, precisely such as was made before
lie Rebellion. And now, with the nj, CHI
fork of Tillman stirring up the doctrine
of state rights. with the bomb Of Atgrld
in the denunciation of our courts md of
President Cleveland thrown under the
very fabric of our government. they have
chosen to put forward as an issue some
thing which touches more Immediately
the conviction, the passions. the cupility
and the honesty of men, and which i'm It.
self contains more disintegrating infiu-
ences to our prosperity than all the
causes combined that ! have mentioned
The Democratic convention, or the
Democratic party. as now organized In \
Joined the Popuist party in bonds of un-
holy wedlock upon the demand that the
United States shall take position upon
the currency of this country which |.
speaking to you under the responsibility
man who is speaking to his neigh
Ors, say that | believe is fraught With
more disaster to this country than the
greatest foreign war could possibly bling
about (Applause.)
And that is the subject that bore
r~p. asked to talk to You tonight about.
ing to do so. as | said in the be-
not with any attempt at deco
,eech not denouncing any men
~ choose to differ from me. for
you. my fellow citizens. that many
- many thousand men who differ
rom us today on this matter ono wear
rom now will be wondering WHY and
how they came to do it. (Appiause. J
And so I shall go on. l may be tedious.
/ am going to give you facts and fic-
ures. l am not going to draw on my
own Imagination for my facts aft ali
'"'',e facts that 1 shall give you will be
regnable. 1t is for you to Judge
whether the deductions l shall draw
rom them can be refuted. 80.
Now what is the question:? For A cor
It understa nding of the question is nj
The first step towards the solution
rtroversy. The question is not
ere should be the free and
oinage Of silver in the minis
ations, by the consent of the
nmercial nations of the globe
to be agreed upon. That Is
e. We all might agree that
brought about. as il will he
d States conducts itself with
on this question, I say we
rec that that would be an
mpg. The Republican party
Il .,edged itself in successive platforms
labor to bring about international
cement The most advanced think
upon financial questions i'm both
>s,Apheres are advocating, especially in
trnicn lands, the resumption of the coin
90 Of silver, by united action Of nations
no before we did, long ago. independ.
,tly of us. and uncomfortable by us.
suspended or limited the further coinage