The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-06-18

character that upon me they force
conclusions which amount almost to
verify. l admit I may be wrong in
every proposition touching this ques-
ton that I may submit here today
but, as / have said, / have formed my
own judgment, and have tried to
reach an intelligent judgment on this
financial question; and after such de-
liberation and thought l say here now
that in my judgment this question
is THE GREATEST QUESTION
thai has been presented to the Ameri-
can people in many years. Right or
wrong, I have convinced my judg-
ment, and l have done that, too, not
from partisan standpoint, not be-
cause the state Of Colorado produces
silver, but after most careful investi-
cation and painstaking research. If
had only my own Judgment to de-
pend upon, / should be afraid to make
such a statement to an intelligent COM
mittee like this. but l have back of me
and agreeing with me and advocating
plmetallism as against the gold stand
ard, the intelligence of the world
Every political economist in Europe
with five or six exceptions. who is
worthy to be named political econo-
mist is a pronounced and open advo-
~e"SS
lessor OF political economy in any of
the great European institutions that
does not declare for bimetallism and
condemn that which you have put in
your platform and which you today
say You mean to make the cardinal fea-
ture of the faith of the Republican
party. That is the gold standard The
greatest teacher of New England, a
man who commands more respect than
any otner teacher in this country or in
Europe, the only American whose text
books have become the text books of
European colleges, has declared the
question of international bimetallism is
A QUESTION OF CIVILIZATION.
Mr. Chairman, l believe this. and
/ believing this. as l do, 1 say it is not
the prosperity of today or tomorrow
/ that deIenGs upon it, but this is a
question which concerns civilization
and morality; thai. concerns not the
! people of the United States alone but
/ the people of the entire world. and on
the rightful solution of which their
picEperh,ty ,andl happiness depends
Having thus formed my conclusions,
after many years of public service and
! investigation, can l look any .nlan in
the face, and tell him l believe this and
D.
stands on a platform pledged TO sup
port the gold standard? Would you
: expect me to do it? Would you not
despise me if l did it? And, what is
more, should / not daspise myself? If
| am wrong. and of course 1 may be,
the truth will some day be known. II
l am right, you are entering upon a
course that will, some day, and that,
too, speedily. bring to this country
GREAT DISASTER AND DIRE DIS
TRESS.
II a partial acceptance of this finan-
cial system has brought this country
| to the condition it Is now in, what
shall be its condition when you have
crys' = IL ID in laws he construction that
yousare putting in this platform. that
| gold and gold only shall be the stand
ard money Of this land? 1 do not in
tend to debate this question. I am
speaking now in explanation of my
conduct when 1 shall declare publicly,
as shall when the platform is adopt
ed, that l can take no farther part in
this convention. and can no longer act
with the Republican party. Mr.. Chair
man, it is not a small thing for a man
to break from his political associa-
tons. No man would be justified in
doing this except upon principle. No
man would be justified in doing so be-
cause of dissatisfaction with mere
{ methods or candidates, but when you
J adopt principle and ask me to sustain
it, and make it one of the cardinal te-
nets of the great political organization
that l believe to be destructive to the
/ interests Of the whole country, then
common honesty calls for a protest
! from me. L have been in this party
! from its organization. / doubt whether
today in this body OF in this conven-
ton, there is man who has served
more years in it than I, and I d.any that
I there is any man who has
SERVED MORE DEvoTEDLY
and with more enthusiasm than
have. When the Democratic party, to
which l belonged, and in which
had been reared, became the party of
oppression and the advocate of a
system of servitude that was destruc-
tive, in my opinion, not only to the
black man, but the white man, l went
out of that party and into a new party
which did not even have a. name-a
party that was weak and small, con-
demned and despised, out of which
came this Republican party. But L
did not then break the ties of more
than forty years. l was then a young
man, full of enthusiasm and hope. My
life was before me. Now, it is be-
hind me. AS a member of the Re
I publican party 1 have shared in it's
: triumph as I have shared in it's de-
feat. / took part by voice and vote in
its first campaign and in the cam
paigns since that 1t has made, either
in the states west or east of the Rocky
mountains, I have been an active par
tcipant. 1 was one of the first men in
the Rocky mountains who advocated
the Republican doctrine of protection,
and l have advocated it in every cam
paign the party has made. l believe
in it now, but do not believe you can
have adequate protection and a gold
standard. Gold standard means
! LOW WAGES AND LOW PRICES
of products, and that is verified by the
conditions in every country of the
world where it has been tried. be-
lieve the adoption of the gold standard
will in the end be destructive of the
great interests for which the Republi-
can party has professedly stood, during
all the years of its existence.
{ Mr.. Chairman, l shall break from
the party of my youth and the party
of my choice, and the party of my
service, and the party that has given
me honors as few men have been given
nOnOrS, IeellnS as tHCuSn were going
to my grave-as though l were bury
ing my best friends-and nothing but
the supreme conviction of the danger
of the maintenance of this gold stand
ard could induce me to make such a
sacrifice; but the conviction is upon
me that it is a duty not to my people
alone, not to the people of Colorado
alone, but a duty which l owe to you
and the whole world as well that i'm
pels me to this step, l came to this
contention little fea ring this xun,1Id