Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-09-01
SENATOR DAVIS view,
The Democratic Platform Strikes
ut the Governments
Foundation.
FREE SILVER NOT BIMETALLlSM,
Condition of Affairs Worse than War
Mould Result from Dem.
ocratic Success.
FREE SILVER NOT BlMETALLlSM,

I'm speech delivered at St PAM An
gust 4, Senator G. h. Davis pointed out
very clearly the fact that free silver 4
not bimetallism and showed what evil
results would follow Demccratic sue
time since the election next preced.
ing the great Civil war, we are
REQUIRED to guard the very fonnda-
lions and Sulwarks of national stability,
4I conlpercial honesty, of fnaacial con-
uuSL The Democratic party which met
at chicago in convention in July suffered
= wonderful change in that convention.
were rudeiy turned aside. 1t was occa-
Pred and Economically possessed by new
spirit-something which has not raised
tts mead in the political conventions of
e'ther party for thirty years. If there
was any one thing which the 1000, 900
OF men who went out to defend this coan-
Try, thirty years ago thought that they
turned, 1t was the malign doctrine of
state rights, which lay at the bottom
ana was the impetus of the greatest
rebellion. which ever reared Its head
against a civilized government. To and
oehola, in that convention, from the
ssta,e of South Carolina, as Of yore, you
pnd the declaration OF the same state
rights, in the same spirit as in the an
clent time, and done in connection, nay
aeiiow citizens, which must appeal 10 the
resentment and repugnance of every lib
erty-ioving and country.loving man. Ey-
sryone who knows anything about me
KNOWS that 1 am not a political admirer
on Hrover Cleveland; but if there was
any one act of his administration which,
after the contentious of history have
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
Inerciai intercourse was cut off by rioters
IN Onicago, by which, upon principles and
angton 100 years before, he evoked the
strong arm of the United States to re-
store law and order in this country
tAnplause and cheers.l
Ihls act is covertly land covertly is
loo mid world denounced in the Chi
tago platform. More than that. If there
Us anything in this country or in any ma
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
aosoiuteism that must exist somew here
IA All governments, it is the courts of our
fand, where men sequestered from polti-
cal concerns and political ambitions,
noiding the scales of justice even be-
tween ,contending passions and contend
sng 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 in that exalted position,
midway in the capitol of the nation be-
tween the Senate and the House of Rep
resentatives, typical object lesson of
their position and of their sublime ca
pacity TO restrain either. and has done
more 10 conduct the government TO the
high plane which it occupies, l was going
10 say, than all the statesmen which this
country, has ever produced. (Applause.)
Inc chicago platform strikes at that
court, strikes at all courts, and enun-
ciates It's malign prophesy of the reor-
GanIzation of that court and of any other
court III necessary, TO register the fitful
ana passionate and repudiating edicts of
mistaken and misguided men, of mistaken
and piisguided parties.
A Crisis is Impending.
And worse than that, my fellow citi-
zens-worse than that! If there was
another thing which the veterans Of the
last war thought they had achieved and
which the loyal sentiment of the North
thought it had achieved, il was the OBJ
liberation of all sectionalsm in this coun-
Try; we were to have no South, no North,
no East, no West, any more. The whole
country was to be unity. But in these
,ng 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
lac Rebellion. And now, with the mich
FORK OF Iillman stirring up the doctrine
OF state rights, with the bomb of Altgcld
IN the denunciation of our courts and 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 cupidity
ana the honesty of men, and which in it.
self contains more disintegrating iIflu-
ences 10 our prosperity. than all the
causes combined that / have mentioned
The Democratic convention, or the
Democratic party, as now organized. has
joined the POpulist party in bonds of nm
holy wedlock upon the demand that the
United States shall take a position IIpon
the currency of this country which /.
speaking to you under the responsibility
of man who is speaking to his neigh
bors, say that j believe is fraught with
more disaster to this country than the
greatest foreign war could possibly bving
about. (Applause.)
And that is the subject that | have
been asked to talk to you tonight about.
l am going to do so, as l said in the be-
ginning, not with any attempt at deco
who may choose to differ from me, for
i tell you, my fellow citizens, that many
and many a thousand men who differ
from us today on this matter one year
from now will be wondering why and
how they came to do it. (Appiause.)
And SO l shall go on. I may be tedious.
am going to give you facts and fig
ures. am not going to draw on my
own imagination for my facts Mt ali.
The facts that l shall give you will be
impregnable. 1t is for you to judge
whether the deductions / shall draw
from them can be refuted
Now what is the question? For n cor
rect understanding of the question is al
ways the first step towards the solution
or the controversy. The question is not
whether there should be the free and
unlimited coinage of silver In the minis
of all the nations, by the consent of the
principal commercial nations of the globe
upon a ratio to be agreed upon. That is
not the issue. We all might agree that
when this is brought about, as il will be.
II the United States conducts itself with
judgment upon this question, / say we
might all agree that that would be an
excellent thing. The Republican party
has pledged itself in successive platforms
10 labor to bring about international
agreement. The most advanced think
ers upon financial questions in both
hemispheres are advocating, especially in
foreign lands, the resumption OF the coin
age of silver, by united action of nations
who, before we did, long ago, independ-