River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1896-08-20
SENATOR DAVIS VIEW.
The Democratic Platform Strikes
at the Governments
Foundation.
FREE SILVER NOT BlMETkLLISM.
Condition Of Affairs Worse than War
Would Result from DEM
ocratic Success.

In q speech delivered al d. IduA <iu-
gust 4. Senator G. X Davis pointed out
very clearly the fact that free silver is
not bimetallism and showed what evil
results would follow Democratic sue
cess. He said that for the first
ing the great Civil war, we are
required 20 guard the very fOunda-
tons and bulwsrks Of national stability,
of commercial honesty, OF financial con-
duct. The Democratic parry which met
at Chicago in convention in July suffered
wonderful change in that convention.
The old oracles and guides of the party
were rudely turned aside. II was occu-
pied and demOnia cally possessed By new
epirit-sOmething which has not raised
Its head in the political conventions or
either parry for thirty years. II there
was any one thing which the 2,OOO,OOO
Of men who went out 10 defend this coun-
try thirty years ago thought that they
had entirely obi Grated when they re
turned, il was the malign doctrine of
state rights. which lay at the bottom
and was the impetus OF the greatest
rebellion which ever reared its head
against civilized government 10 and
behold, in that convention, from the
state OF South Carolina, as of yore, you
ind the declaration of the same state
rights, in the same spirit as in the an
Gent time. and done in a connection, my
fellow citizens. which must appeal to the
resentment and repugnance OF every hb-
erty-lOvins and country-lOving man. Ev-
eryOne who knows anything about me
knows that am not a political admirer
of Grover Cleveland; but il there was
any one act of his administration i,
after the contentious of history ave
ceased to rage about his acts lad his
memory, that will remain star-bright
forever. il was his action, when the
pulse of business heat low. when com
mercial intercourse was cut off by rioters
In Chicago. by which. upon principles and
precedents laid down by George Wash
ingtOu 100 years before. ne evoked the
strong arm u the United States TO re-
store law and order in this country.
lADplause End cheers.l
This act is cOyertly land covertly is
too mid Z world denounced in the Chi
cagl platform More than that. II there
IS aayth. ng in this country or in any ma
ton upOa which the stability of the gov
ern-ent Oapends. the very keystone of
the great arch upon which the ranged
empire stands. the ultimate principle of
aDsOirJeISln that must exist somewhere
IA al governments, il is the courts of our
land, where men sequestered from politi-
"a. concerns and political ambitions,
holding the scales of justice even be-
tween cOntending passions and contend
Ding rights, decide for their fellow citizens
what the law is. And for more than 100
years the Supreme court Of the United
States has saf in that exalted position,
midway in the capitol of the nation be-
tween the Senate and the House of Rep
re@GutaIlFeS. a typical OBJECT lesson OF
their position and OF their sublime ca
pacity 10 restrain either. and has done
more 70 conduct the government 10 the
sIish plane which it occupies. l was going
20 say. than all the statesmen which this
country has ever produced. (ApDlause)
court, strikes ct all courts, and enun-
ciates its maiign prOphesy of the reOr-
ganizatiOn Of that court and of any other
court II necessary, 20 register the htful
IL ,1e 49,, IS
mistaken and misguided men. of mistaken
and misguided parties.
A Crisis Is Impending.
And worse than that, ny fellow citi-
Kens-worse than that! If there was
smother thing which the veterans Of the
last war thought they had achieved aud
which the loyal sentiment of the North
thought il had achieved, il was the OBJ
liberation of all sectiOnalism in this coun-
try; we were 70 have no South, no North,
no East. no West. any more. The whole
country was 10 be a unity. But in these
later days, we see the solid South com
ing up 10 the banks of the Ohio and the
Missouri as before the war, AMI with
sectional demands upon an economic is
sue, precisely sUeI as was made before
tie Rebellion And now, with the mich
FORK OF Tlllman stirring up the doctrine
of state rights, with the bomb of Altgeid
In the denunciatiO1 of our courts and of
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 cupiiity
and the honesty of men. and which in it.
self contains more disintegrating iufu-
enceS 10 our prosperity than an the
causes combined that | have mentioned.
The Democratic convention, or the
Democratic party, as now organized. has
Joined the Populist party in bonds OF IN
hnEE n 4 IL IL.
United States shall take a position upOn
the currency of this country which l.
speaking TO you under the responsibility
OF man who is speaking TO his neigh
bors. say that l believe is fraught with
more disaster TO this country than the
greatest fOrei-l war could possibly bling
about. ca plause)
And that is the subject that have
been asked TO talk TO you tonight about.
/ am going to do so, as | sail in the he
ginning. not with any ATTEMPT Al deco
ratlye speech, not denouncing any men
who may choose TO differ from me- for
tell you. my fellow citizens. that MANY
and many a thousand men who differ
from US today on this matter one year
from now viii be wondering why and
how they came to do it. (Appiausel
And so l shall go on. ! may be tedious.
am going TO give you facts and fig
ures. 1 am not going to draw on nv
own imagination for my facts at ali
Aue Adcls Inat snail give you will be
impregnable. IL is for you to Judge
whether the deductions l shall draw
from them can be refuted.
Now what is the question? For cor
rect understanding of the question Is al
ways the first step towards the solution
of the controversy. The question Is pr
whether there should be the free lad
unlimited coinage OF silver in the minis
of all the nations, by the consent of the
principal commercial nations or 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 rarty
has pledged itself in successive platforms
TO 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. iudeoend-