The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-21
A CALL TO VETERANS.
General SickIes Issues an Address to
His Comrades.

Gen. Daniel E. Sickles. president of the
Union Veterans Patriotic League. has ad-
urging them to lay aside party feeling and
unite for the defense of the national honof
His letter is in part as follows:
MIR. Bryan and many of his supporters
are trying to combine the South and West
against the North and East. This is sec
tionalism-of which the rebellion was tnn
offspring. Will you follow these guides into
dangerous paths, or will you not rather
follow Washington in frowning upon the
first dawning of every attempt to ALLEVIATE
one portion of country from the rest
or to enfeeble the ties which now link to-
gether the various partS?' SectionallSm
has become hateful to most of our old ad-
versaries in the South, who have outgrown
the asperities of war, and are now as loyal
to their united country as any of us.
Mr.. Bryan proposes to pay all the cred
itors of our government in silver. This is
reputation. 1t would degrade and dis
grace as a nation in the eyes of the
whole world. Among the creditors of the
Nation are the pensioners. If you consent
to pay in debased silver the bondholder
who lent his money to the government to
arm and feed and cothe it's troops. you
one-half of the pensions awarded to the
war veterans and to the widows and or
phdns of those who are not living. All the
creditors OF the government must stand or
fall together. Many of you are pensioners,
or the friends of widows and orphans who
are pensioners. Many of you have depos-
TIED your savings in savings banks,
Most of You are toilers at the pillow, or in
the workshop, or dependent on small sal
all so situated the payment of wages and
pensions and your savings in silver not re-
4Rg eczema u - IN n, gold as proposed by Mr..
severe losses and hardship The cost of
all the accessories of life would be doubled
while the value of the money in which
wages and pensions would be paid would
pc reduced nearly one-half On the other
hand. the farmers would not be benefited,
because they must sell their products for
money worth only a little more than half
us present value based on gold stand
would thus suffer All i business Tey W Won1d h
deranged Employment would be difficult
70 md; Wages would advance very slowly
Mr. Bryan threatens to reorganize the
nisy court in the land so that it's de-
Populists. If elected, he would make the
1udlclal department of the government obe-
: olent to his will; He would destroy the
would oVerturn the framework of our Con-
st i!.1r f,r This would be revolution.
President ann of ehe tine authority Of the
States to interfere with mobs They may
with IMMUNITY disturb the peace, destroy
property and life, interrupt travel between
the States and obstruct the United States
mails and interstate as well as foreign
on, powerless, helpless, paralyzed This is
mob rule-anarchy. 1t is impossible to ex-
iaggerate the gravity of this issue. 1t real
and civilization.
10 tnO3e VINO, like myself, have adj
hered to the Democratic party. let me say
that the platform and candidate presented
by the Chicago convention are not Demo-
cratic They are dsowned and denounced
by millions of the best Democrats in the
lana. No man of recognized authority in
hnance indorses the financial policy of the
chicago platform. You are not Populists
nor Socialists, nor revoutionists Read the
platform adopted by Democratic national
conventions in former years, and you will
see that the last Chicago convention re-
Jected all the best traditions of our history
and adopted much of the revolutionary
creeds of the PoDulists and Free-silverites
and Socialists. dictated by Altgeld Till
man Co. They repudiated you and your
party and your principles. They have no
claim to your support. Let us defeat
them.
'Comrade Mckinley stands for all that
Americans must now uphold. He has
been chosen as the candidate of the party
which is resisting national dishonor You
and l can do no better than give our votes
to our comrade, who manifested his love
for his country by shouldering his musket
and serving for nearly two years as a
private soldier. His promotions were fair
ly earned by his courage and his faithful
performance of the duties of an enlisted
man In the ranks. His comrades may well
trust him. He will see to it that the prin-
cIpIes Tor which so many of our comrades
gave their lives are preserved and perpet-
uated."