Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-11-10
FROM A DEMOCRATIC VIEW.
EDITORS PUBLIC OPINION:

EDITORS PUBLIC OPINION:
With your kind permission l would
desire to express through your columns
the sentiment of one who belongs to
the party that was defeated at the polls
last Tuesday, and beg to suggest some
of the reasons why bimetallism was
not victorious in the campaign which
has just closed.
In my opinion five principal reasons
may be truthfully advanced for the de-
feat of Mr.. Bryan and bimetallism, evil
dence of which it seems to ME can be
adduced to prove that each one is
based not upon mere opinion, but upon
actual transactions which occurred dur
ing the campaign. The first of these
reasons was the enormous amount of
money which was used by the repub-
lican campaign managers. The great
corporations and banking institutions
of the country poured their millions in
to the committee treasury to accom-
plish a republican victory. A gentle
man from Buffalo, n. Y, said to me
last May that the free coinage of silver
would not be adopted if it cost $50, ,OOO,-
coo to prevent it. With this threat up
on its lips the aggregated wealth of the
nation went into the contest determin-
ed to WIN at any cost. w. X. Wander
bilt sent his check for 100000, and J.
d. Rockefeller contributed $3.50, 900.
With millions of dollars contributed
by the capitalists in whose interest the
gold standard is maintained the repub-
lican committee perfected an organiza-
ton which proved impossible to over
come. They employed the best talent
which could be obtained, and paid for
it the highest price, to speak to the
people upon the stump. The owners of
capital controlled the stock of almost
all the daily papers in large cities. So
the genius of able editorial writers was
drafted to do service to the cause of the
money power. The people may not
have all understood these facts, but the
time is coming when they will, and
their votes will crush from political
power the men who secure their mil
lions by assistance from the govern
ment and at the expense of the produ-
GERS of wealth.
The second reason was coercion on
the part of employers of labor Men
who employed laborers told their work
ingmen that if they desired work and
wages they must vote for Mr.. McKin-
ley, for the election of free silver pres
ident and congress meant to them lack
of employment. In this manner they
exercised control over thousands of vo-
tiers who would have cast their votes for
Mr. Bryan. This, too, in nation where
all men are supposed to be free. The
stars and stripes, which represents the
blood of countless thousands of martyrs
for freedom, was no protection to the
citizen in the exercise of his right to
vote according to the dictates of his
own conscience. Such a proceeding
was never surpassed i'm the very throes
of monarchy itself, and certainly new
er in our country where we boast of the
priceless heritage of liberty.
The third reason was the action of
those so-called democrats who voted
for Mr.. Mckinley. There were thou
sands of them who voted the republican
ticket because they were opposed to the
the free coinage of silver. 1t will not
be denied for moment that they had
perfect right to do so, but they have
not the right to say, as they have said,
that the Chicago convention was not
democratic. The democratic party,
beginning with the illustrious Jefferson,
has always held as one of its tenets
that gold and silver is the money of
the constitution, until Grover Cleve-
land and his Wall street associates in
two or three national conventions rob
bed 1t of one of its principles. All that
is asked of these men is to continue to
vote as they see fit, but to cease their
attempt to frame the policies of the
democratic party, for they have no
right to fOist the theories of republican
ism upon the platform of democracy.
The fourth reason was the continued
cry of republican orators and editors
that the cause Of the financial panic
was the defeat of Mr.. Harrison in 1892,
when they themselves knew the real
cause to be lack of money in the world.
They also, in addition to this, fright
ened the people by the application of
abusive epithets, such as anarchists"
"repudiationists" and ''popocrats" to
the advocates of bimetallism. They
used the high sounding but meaning
less phrases "sound money" and an
"honest dollar" to prejudice the voter.
There was no limit to their sway of rid
icule and vituberation, while the advo-
Gates silver coinage We're compelled
in their appeal to the people to bear
upon their lips the fetters of truth.
There is a fifth reason. Many repub-
lican voters who believe in bimetallism,