The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1896-05-06
The First Duty of the Convention

From the Detroit Tribune:
Obviously the first duty of the re-
publican national convention which
will assemble at St. Louis next month,
is TO face the situation. 1t won't pay
to dodge. The party has got to 60
to the people with tolerably certain
declarations of purpose, for the rea-
son that the people have tolerably
certain notions of what they want.
Nothing will be gained by the inser-
ton in the platform of financial
plank which does not squarely take
account of all conditions and cir
cumstances.
First of all it is necessary to de-
clare what is the fact, in the opinion
of the party, concerning the stability
of the present unit of value, namely,
the gold dollar. Before the conven-
ton says another thing about the
currency it ought to say whether or
not the gold dollar expresses the same
absolute value from day to day, or
comes as near to expressing the same
absolute value as is possible. If, in
the belief of the convention, the gold
dollar is increasing in value all the
the time, it is the conventions duty
to solemnly pledge the party's best
efforts to put an immediate stop to
that process.
We are inclined to think that most
gold men admit that the gold dollar
is increasing in value. Few of them,
we imagine, are inclined to claim for
gold such a miraculous quality as
that it is not amenable to the law of
supply and demand. Their advocacy
of the existing order is the advocacy
of the conservative in all things. 1t
is better, they maintain, to endure
the evils that are, rather than fly to
evils of which we know nothing.
They find more ground for fear in the
contingencies that wait upon the
adoption of new standard, than in
the fact that the present standard is
faulty.
Unless we are greatly mistaken, no
such alternative is before us. If we
read the signs of the times Alright,
the people will, sooner or later, if not
in one way then in another, free
themselves of any increment of debt
that is imposed upon them by mere
appreciation of the unit of value.
They are disposed, naturally, to ac-
complish their purpose in an orderly
way, but they do not deny them
selves the right of doing it in some
other way, if they like. If the repub-
lican national convention, knowing
that the gold dollar is worth more to-
day than it was 10, 20 or 30 years
ago, and being firmly assured that it
will be worth still more tomorrow
than it is to-day, still declares in
favor of the maintenance of the pres
ent system, it virtually undertakes TO
deny to the people the orderly and
constitutional means of relieving
themselves of load they carry un-
justly. Such course invites moth
ing but disaster.
We do not think the money ques-
ton is at all delicate, except as it is
made delicate by the strange fears of
public men. There is no possible
doubt that somebody has got to lose,
if the unit Of value is to be made less
valuable, but we have got to bethink
us that the loss would be far less
than the destruction that would re-
suit if the burden of spontaneously
increasing debt were to grow until
its weight Invested the people CT
their fortitude and released them for
violence.
We are thoroughly sure that the
difficulty is only to be met inside the
lines of the republican party. We
should be sorry to have the conven-
ton declare for the existing order,
but its declaration, whatever it be,
will have our earnest support. The
preservation of the party is the first
concern of any principle, for without
the party any principle is impotent.
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THE state democratic convention,
as was expected, declared squarely