Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1896-09-17

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Its equivalent. are 30 enormous, together
with the sums due and TO become due. for
State, municipal, county or other corpor-
ate debts, that IL paid In appreciated sill
yer or its equivalent II would not only
entail upon our fellow-countrymcn loss
la money which has not been equaled In q
similar experience since the world began,
but II would at the same time bring dis
grace to our country such as has never
befallen any other nation which had the
ability to pay its honest debts. In our
condition and considering our mngnifi-
cent capacity for raising revenue such
Wholesale Reputation Is without necessity
or excuse. No political expediency or par
ty exlgency. however pressing, could Justi-
fy 30 monstrous an act.
All these deposits and debts must. under
the platform of the Republican party, be
met and adjusted In the best currency
the world knows and measured by the
same standard in which the debts have
been contracted or the deposits or pay
ments have been made.
Facts Officially Established.
Still dealing sparingly with figures. Of
which there Is I'M enormous mass to sus-
tain the. position of the advocates OF the
gold standard of value, j cite one more
fact. which is officially established. pre-
missed by the truism that there Is no bet
ter test of the growth Of q country's pros
perity than its increase In the per capita
holdings of It's population. In the decade
between 1880 and 1890, during which we
had our existing gold standard, and were
under the conditions that supervened
from the act of 1873, the per capita own
ings Of this country increased from $50
to 81 ,O30. In those ten years the aggre-
gate increase. of the wealth of our coun-
try was $21 800 900, 900. being so per
cent. in excess Of the increase of any pre-
vious ten years since 1850, and ut the
amazing rate of over two thousand million
dollars a year. The trainers of the Chi
cago, platform, in the face of this fact,
and OF the enormous increase over Great
Britain, during this same gold standard
decade. of our country's foreign trade and
its production of iron, coal and other
great symbols of national strength and
progress, assert that our monetary stan
dard'is mot only un-American. but anti
American" and that it has brought us
''into financial seryitude to London" 1t
Is impossible to imagine an asse<tion more
reckless and indefensible.
The proposition for free and unlimited Sill
yer coinage, carried to Its logical conclusion,
and but one Is possible, means, as before In
alton ofan all-exlsting Indebtedness. public
and private, to the extent Of nearly 80 per
cent. OF the face of all such indebtedness
Ii demands an unlimited volume of fiat cur
any standard value In the markets OF the
world. Every consideration OF public inter-
est and public honor demands that thls prop
o5ition should be rejected by the American
people.
Cannot Sanction spoIiation.
sanction to wholesale spoliation. 1t must
hold fast to lts integrity. 1t must still en-
courage thrift in all proper weyG 1t must
not only educate Its children to honor and
n tho fur but ahnnld Inc To al
ity TO the obligations Of personal and nation
al honor as well. Both these great princi-
pies should hereafter be taught In the COM
mon schools of the land, and the lesson i'm
pressed upon those who are the voters Of
to-day and those who are to become the In
heritors OF sovereign power in this repub-
lie that 1t Is neither wise. patriotic nor safe
to make political Nlatforms the mediums Of
assault upon properly, the peace of society
and upon civilization itself.
Until these lessons have been learned by
cur children, and by those who have reach
ed tho voting age, IL can only be surmised
what enlightened statesmen and political
economists Will record as to the action Of
party convention which offers an inducement
TO national dishonesty by a premium Of AZ
cents for every SO cents worth OF silver
that can be extracted from the bowels Of
the whole earth, with cordial Invitation to
all to produce II at our minis and accept for
Ii a full legal tender dollar of 100 cents rated
value. to be coined free. Of charge and unllm-
tied In quantity for private account.
But vastly more than mere assertion of
purpose to reconstruct the national cur
rency Is suggested by the Chicago platform
1t assumes. In fact. the form OF a revolu-
tionary propaganda. 1t embodies a menace
of national dislntegration and destruction.
This spirit manifested itself In n deliberate
proposition to repudiate the plghted public
faith. to impair the sanctity of the obligation
OF private contracts, to cripple the credit
OF the nation by stripping the Government
Of the power to borrow money as the urgent
exigencies of the treasury may require. and
In word, to overthrow all the foundations
Of ananc ia and nd industrial stability.
sition to thus debauch the currency and to
unsettle all conditions of trade and conf
MERGE, the party responsible for this plat
form denies the competency OF the Govern
ment to protect the lives and property Of Its
citizens against internal disorder and vio-
lence.
Would Debauch the Courts.
1t assails the judicial monuments reared
by the Constitution for the defense of ind-
vidual rights and the public welfare, and 1t
even threatens to destroy the Integrity Of
the Supreme Court, which has been consid-
cred the last refuge Of the citizen against
every form Of outrage and injustice.
In the face OF the serious peril which these
propositions embody, 1t would seem that
there could be but one sentiment among
right-thinking citizens as TO the duty Of thd
lieve Ia law, and have some regard for the
sacredness Of Individual and Institutional
rights, muR unite In defense OF the endan-
gered interests OF the nation.
While the financial issue which has been
thus considered. and which has come as the
result OF the agitation of recent years, TO
occupy peculiar conspicuersness, Is ad-
m!ttedly OF primary Importance. there Is
another question which must command care
full and serious attention. Our financial and
business condition Is at this moment one of
almost unprecedented depression. Our great
industrial system Is seriously paralyzed. Pro,
duction In many important branches Of man
ufacture has altogether ceased. Capital is
without remunerative employment. Labor
Is Idle. The revenues Of the Government are
insufficient to meet Its ordinary and neces-
sary expenses. These conditions are not
the result of accident. They are the out
come OF u mistaken economic policy deliber-
ately enacted and applied. 1t would not be
difficult, and would not involve any disturb
ancc OF our existing commercial system. to
enact necessary tariff notifications along
the lines of experience.
For the first two fiscal years OF the So
called Mckinley tariff, the receipts from GUS
toms were $3.50, S07 $50. At this writing the
two full fiscal years. but the total receipts,
actual and estimated, cannot exceed $312.-
AL. S47. A steady dehcit. constantly depict
ns the of the
brought about public distrust and business
disaster. IL has, too. nccessltated the sale
or $262 100000 Of bonds thereby increasing
to that extent the national debt. 1t will be
remembered that in no year Of the more
than quarter Of a century OF continuous
Republican administration succeeding the
civil war, when our Industries were dlsin-
tegrated and all the conditions of business
were mora or less disturbed. was the nation
al debt Increased by single dollar; IL was,
on the contrary, steadily and rapidly dimin-
ished. In such condition OF affairs as this
It Is Idle to argue against the necessity OF
some sort Of a change In our fiscal laws.
The Democratic party declares for REM
cdy by direct taxation upon & selected class
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