The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1896-02-07
INC foIlowinc Ietter Is seIf-ex-


James III. Head,
Casey Young, w. L. Ledgerwood,
Albert T. McNeal, John J. Yer
trees, Committee. Gentlemen: /
have received a copy of your adj
dress 70 Tennesse1ns, dated Dec. 9,
1895, in the form of a pamphlet,
and / suppose it has been widely
distributed throughout the State.
While the address is to Tennesseans
without regard to party, the title
and body of the paper shows that 1t
is meant for democrats only. As
the pamphlet was sent to me In
common with other Tennesseans, /
shall reply to it respectfully, and
from the stand polLt Of a democrat
who urgently wish % the success of
the party, 10 anC nationally. /
NAV be permi I'D to say for the in
formation of the public, that / have
known the indis dual members of
your committee for many years and
sustain toward each the. klndest
personal relations. / recognize
ali Of You as democrats, ard realize,
that however we may differ on the
silve question, We will in the fu-
ture, as In the past, be found with
IN the democratic fold ready to con-
tribute orr share to the success of
the party.
I sincerely deprecate the tone and
temper of your address, and / deem
it unwise, illtimed and injudicious.
! wish, i'm advance of party action,
20 enter my protest against it. If /
can correctly understand the scope
and object Of the pamphlet, it is to
convince the democrats that the
free, Independent and unlimited
coinage of silver, at the ratio of 16
to I, is a party doctrine absolutely
obligatory on all democrats. You
say elf any man not public SER
want, who has been a democrat, has
reason to abandon the faith of his
fathers, and renounce bimetallism,
and advocate the single money stan
dard of gold, let him do so, but it
is due to those from whom he parts
that he should not traduce the par
ty he deserts" The meeting at
Nashville, which convened Nov. l6,
1895, adopted a resolution in which
it declared, ''the free and unlimited
coinage of gold and silver at the
ratio of l6 to /, and independently
of all other nations of the world, "
TO be democratic principle; and at
the same time your committee
was appointed to prepare an
address ''to the people of
Tennessee in accordance with
the views it expressed" So you
evidently mean by "bimetallism, "
the unlimited free coinage of gold
and silver at the ratio of 16 to /,
and to characterize all democrats
who do not subscribe to that doc
trine as ''deserters. You go so
far as to say that emo good man is
privileged to assert that 'blmetal-
lism,' (meaning free coinage at the
ratio of 10 to u is not absolutely
and unqualifedly democratic. The
plain meaning is that every demo
crat in Tennessee who refuses to
subscribe to the doctrine of free
coinage as taught by your commit
tee is a ''deserter" and not a "good
man."
submit, < IL enel, that this is
exceedingly marrow and harsh, to
say the least of it, and l do not be-
lieve that either of you individually
entertain so uncharitable an opinion
of so many of your friends. Col.
Casey Young, who ran against me
for congress in 1894, would not de-
liberately characterize the majority
as ''deserters" and bad men. Look
over the southern states and see who
some of the men are who differ from
you. / will mention one from each
state. Gray of Delaware, German
of Maryland, Fitzhugh Lee of Vir-
ginia, Wilson of West Virginia,
Ransom of North Carolina, Wade
Hampton of South Carolina, Cooper
of Florida, Turner of Georgia,
House of Tennessee, Carlisle of
Kentucky, Francis of Missouri,
Oates Of Alabama, Stone of Missis-
sippi, Rose of Arkansas, Caffrey of
Lousian, and Mills of Texas. Would
you, gentlemen, in your sober mo-
ments denounce these men as ssdeser-
tiers" and proclaim to your fellow
citizens that they are not 'sgood
men" because they have the timeri-
ty to insist that they are democrats?
Samuel J. Tileen Of New York, L.
Q. G. Lamar of Mississippi and
Ben Hill of Georgia, were all con-
sidered great leaders in the councils
of the democracy in their day and
They did more to de
fend and disenthrall the southern
states than any other three Ameri-
can statesmen. They all opposed |
the free coinage of silver at the
ratio of l6 to !, and went down to
their graves believing they were
democrats, and they were reverent-
" SO considered and accepted by
all their party associates. Your
however, has discovered
that they were ssdeserters" and bad
men, trio of 'sgriffins" conspiring
10 Cypress the poor and guard the