New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-08-17
TILE GROTEL OF HOKE.

Hoke, Hoke. lust few words with you, H0kc
You wrote n letter the other day to a Bryan
notification meeting in Georgia giving your rea-
sons for supporting a free-slver candidate for
President. after having talked loud and long in
favor of gold standard, TO which you had be-
come an earnest and presumably sincere convert,
through your having belonged TO the official
family OF President Cleveland. You say you
must be consistent. and that, as you urged upon
silver men the duty of supporting a gold platform
il It should be adopted at Chicago, you feel bound
10 take your own medicine. Well. you know the
class of people whose special virtue is consist
ency. 1t was all right to be consistent II you
felt that way about IT, But. Hoke why did you
60 out of your way to insult our own record?
In your letter YOU talk about finance as a minor
issue about local Georgia interests which seem
to YOU more important. and about the trusts ana
monopolies which you think would be fostered
by Republicans. Surely those were good enough
Morgans to serve you till after election. But
YOU were not content You had started in and
YOU swallowed the whole hog You announced
that the Chicago platform meant Government
according to the terms Of the Constitution; for
1.-THE rights of the plain people of the land The
Chicago Convention thought that government
not maintained In 1894 when the President Of the
United States Invaded" the sovereign State of H.
linos and the United States Courts ''usurped' the
right to enforce its DEGREES. That Is the particu-
lar violation Of the Constitution that Mr. Bryans
followers complain Of. At that time it will be re-
membered. there was q riot in Chicago which
caused delay to the United States mails, inter
fered with interstate commerce. resulted in
i,,t lnct t0tO Of
human life The State authorities sympathized
with this riot President Cleveland issued proc
lamation warning all persons to keep order, sent
General Miles to Chicago with troops TO protect
life and property, showed that the whole power
of the Federal Government would be exerted in
behalf of law and order, and by those acts
stopped what threa tened to be n reign of violence
not only in Chicago. but in every large city of the
Union. All over the country and in Europe peo-
pie held their breath in fear of a general out
break That outbreak was prevented by the
courage of President Cleveland.
Where were you, Hoke, in those days? We
believe YOU were Secretary of the Interior How
did you feel then about your chiefs action? Did
you think the Constitution was being violated?
Did YOU want Altgeld TO have his way and arson
TO have free swing? Did you sit silent in the
tdDlIct anu pIttcHu ~ supI'oIl tnt
policy when in your heart you believed he was an
usurper invading sovereign State and tramp
ling on the rights of the plain people? Or did you
know that he was doing the manly thing, facing
demagogues boldly, and doing what the honest
and law-abiding people Of this country wanted
him to do? If you thought he was tyrant,
false TO his OATH how could you continue to serve
him? If you agreed with him, why do you now
take pains to emphasize your desertlon to the
enemies of his policy? You know as well as any
body that this talk about government according
to the terms Of the Constitution and the rights
of the plain people was aimed at him, and meant
to conclate the dsOrderly elements against
whom he had enforced the law. Everybody
knows you had 10 go with the party in Georgia
or give up your political future. But you could
have taken your handful Of silver and gone
over to Bryan without proclaiming your JOY at
embracing anarchy. You didn't have to grovel
that way.