Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1896-08-07
McKinley's Clear, Strong Words.

opinion of William Mckinley, before the
Republican national convention was held,
of the wisdom of forcing the question of
maintaining the gold standard to the front
as a leading issue in the campaign, he
leaves no doubt as to where he stands
since the Chicago convention declared for
a j3-cent dollar and national repudiation.
HI most notable declaration thus far was
mat last week Thursday in speech to a
delegation of 500 people, many of them
war veterans, who joined in an excursion
from Guernsey county, Ohio, to his home,
Canton, to pay him their respects. 1t
would not be easy to conceive of a speech
of greater clearness and vigor than the one
which Maj. Mckinley then made on the
financial question. His declaration of
principles then made was that of saga
cious, patriotic statesman, who puts the
honor of his country before all, and who
demands that it shall be safeguarded now
by its loyal men as zealous!y as it was dur
ing the threatening days of the rebellion at
Antietam and Gettysburg.
"When the war closed" he said. 'there
were two great debts resting on this gov
ernment. One was the debt due to the
men who had loaned the government mon
ey with which to carry on its military op-
erations; the other debt was due to the
men who had willingly offered their lives
for the preservation of the American I'm
ion"
And he added, referring to the national
Iaht 10 tbpsa vuIO haI loaDaJ ba cnpptr,.
money for its preservation, and to those
who had valiantly fought to preserve it:
"They wanted every dollar of the debt paid
in the best coin known to the commercial
world, and every dollar of that debt up to
this hour has been paid in gold or its
equivalent, the best recognized money of
the world, and every dollar of that debt,
my comrades, yet to be paid will be paid
in the same unquestioned coin"
Again he said:
"Your old commander, General Grant,
whose memory is cherished by all of you,
performed two great and conspicuous acts
while president of the United States-one
vetoing the initiation bill that would have
cast us upon the sea of deprecated cur
rency, and the other was the signing of the
act for resumption of specie payments, that
placed every dollar of our money upon the
sound foundation of financial honor and
unquestioned national honesty; and the old
soldiers this year, as in all the years of the
past, following their old commander will
stand by the financial honor of the govern
ment, and will no more permit our nations
integrity to be questioned than they would
permit that flag [pointing to an American
flag To be assailed."
Perhaps we ought not to call this speech
Maj. McKinley's most notable declaration
on the main issues of the campaign, for
only the day before, when addressing a del
egation from Knoxville, Pa, he said:
"That which we call money, my fellow
citizens, and with which values are meas
ured and settlements made, must be as true
as the bushel which measures the grain of
the farmer and as honest as the hours of
labor which the man who tolls is required
to give. The one must be as full and
complete and as honest as the other. Our
currency today is good-all of it, as good
as gold-and it is the unfaltering determi-
nation of the Republican party to so keep
and maintain it forever"
This word "forever," in that connection,
has a ring which no other speaker has yet
given in the crisis which is now upon the
country. His language in both cases was
that of a strong, wise, and courageous man
chosen by his countrymen to lead them in
a great patriotic cause. 1t gives dignity
and vigor to his leadership, and should
make the campaign of 1896 for national
honor crusade in which all patriotic
Americans, no matter by what name they
call themselves, no matter to what politi-
cal organization they are attached, should
join with public spirited fervor and enthu-
siasm.