Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1896-08-27
The Democratic Platform Strikes
ct the Governments
Foundation.
FREE SILVER NOT BIMsTALLlSM.
Condition of Affairs Worse than War
Would Result from DEM
ocratic Success.

not bmetallism and showed what evil
results would follow Democratic sue
cess. He said that for the first
time since the election next proceed
ing the great Civil war. we are
required 10 guard the very founda-
tions and bulwarLs of national stability,
OF commercial honesty. of financial con-
duct. The Democratic party which met
al Chicago in convention in July suffered
q wonderful change in that convention.
The old oraclcs and guides of the party
were ludcly turned aside. IL was occu-
pied and Economically possessed by new
spirit--something which has not raised
its head in the political conventions or
either party for thirty years. If there
was any one thing which the 2,OOOOoO
of men who went out To defend TINS coun-
try thirty years ago thought that they
had entirely oblterated when they re-
turned, il was the malign doctrine OF
state rights, which lay ut 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, rs of yore, you
find the declaration of the same state
rights. in the same spirit as in the an
cient time. and done in a connection, my
fellow citizens. which must appeal TO the
resentment and repugnance of every lib
erty-loving and cOuntry-loving man. Ev-
eryone who knows anything about me
knows that ! am not a political admlrer
of Grover Cleveland but if there was
any one act Of his administra ton which,
after the contentious Of history have
ceased To rage about his acts and MS
memory, that will remain star-bright
forever. il was his action, when the
pulse of business beat low. when com
mercal intercourse was cut of by rioters
in Chicago. by which. upon principles and
precedents laid down by George Wash
ington 100 years before, he evoked the
strong arm of the United States 10 re-
store law and order in this country.
tAnplause and cheers
This act is covertly land covertly il
too mild world denounced in the Chi
cago platform. More than that. If there
is anything in this country or in any ma
ton upon which the stability of the gov
eminent depends, the very keystone of
the great arch upon which the ranged
empire stands. the ultimate principle of
absoluteism that must exist somewhere
in all governments. il is the courts of our
land, where men sequestered from politi-
cal concerns and political ambitions,
holding the scales of justice even be-
tween contending passions and contend
ing rights. decide for their fellow citizens
what the law is. And for more than 100
years the Supreme court of the United
States has sat in that exalted position,
midway in the capitol of the nation be-
resentatives, a typical object lesson of
their position and of their sublime ca
pacity TO restrain either. and has done
more 10 conduct the government 10 the
high plane which il occupies l was going
20 say, than all the statesmen which this
country has ever produced. (Applause)
The Chicago platform strikes at that
court strikes at all courts, and enun-
ciates ITS malign prophesy of the rcor-
Fanization of that court and of any otner
court If necessary. 10 register the ftful
and passionate and repudiating edicts of
mistaken and misguided men, of mistaken
and misguided parties
A Crisis IL Impending.
And worse than that. my fellow titi-
zens-worse than that! If there was
another thing which the veterans IT the
last war thought they had achieved and
which the loyal sentiment Of the North
thought il had achieved. il was the OBJ
Iteration of all sectionalism in this conn-
try; we were 10 have no South, no North
no East. no West, any more. The whole
country was ia be a unity. But i'm the Sc
late. days. we see the solid South com
ing up to the banks of the Ohio and the
Missouri as before the war. and with
sectional demands upon an economic is
sue, precisely such as was made before
tie Rebellion. And now, with the phch-
fork of Tillman stirring up the doctrine
Of state rights with the bomb of Altgrld
in the denunciation of our courts and of
President Cleveland thrown under the
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 ia IL
self contains more disintegrating iIfiu-
ences TO our prosperity than all the
causes combined that | have mentioned
hn o
Democratic party, as now organized. has
joined the Populist party In bonds of an
holy wedlock upon the demand that the
United States shall take a position ul,on
the currency of this country which |.
speaking To you under the responsihilitv
of man who is speaking To his reigh-
bors. say that ! believe is fraught v th
more disaster 10 this country than fh.
greatest foreign war could possibly bling
about. (Applause.)
And that is the subject that I have
been asked TO talk TO you tonight about
j am going 10 do so. as | said i'm the he
ginning, not with any attempt nj deco
rative speech. not denouncing any men
who may choose TO differ from mo for
! tell you. my fellow citizens. that many
md many n thousand men who differ
from us today on this matter one wear
from now will be wondering why and
how they came TO do IT, tAnniouso
] AIN going to give you facts and flo
ures. ] am not going To draw on INV
own imagination for my facts nj ali
The facts that ! shall give you will no
impregnable. Ii is for you to iudge
whether the deductions | shall draw
from them can be refuted.
Now what Is tho question? For cor
rect understanding of the question il nj.
ways the first step towards the solution
of the controversy. The question IL not
whether there should be the free and
unlimited coinage OF silver i'm the minis
of all the nations. by the consent OF tho
principal commercial nations Of the globe
upon a ratio to hc agreed upon. That IL
not the issue We all might arree tbat
when this il brought about, as II will no
II the United States conducts itself with
judgment upon tins question, I saw We
might all agree that that would be an
excellent thing The Republican nortv
has pledged itself in successive nlstforms
90 labor 10 bring about iniernation.i
agreement The most advanced tbint.
ers upon financial questions in both
hemispheres are advocating. especially in
foreign lands. the resumption Of tho ,oin.
age OF silver 10y united action OF nations
who. before we did. long ago. indppend.
emily Of us. and uncomfortable by rs
suspended or limited the further coinage