Mexico weekly ledger., 1896-12-03

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3.
WHAT DEMOCRACY STANDS FOR.
Now that the election is over and the
passion aroused by the campaign has
subsidized it would be well for us to take
up and discuss, in a calm and dispas-
sionate manner, the issues now de-
manding solution at the hands Of the
American people. An examination of
the different platforms of the recent
campaign will disclose issues almost
without number, but it requires but
little sitting to eliminate what is un-
important and irrelevant, and to dis
cover that the paramount questions
now to be met are those of taxation,
finance and governmental interior
ence. In our opinion, Democracy
stands solid for
Tariff reform,
Currency reform,
Individualism as opposed to pater-
nalism in government.
These are three of the leading ques-
tions which confront the political
parties of the country at the present
time, and will continue to confront
them for many years to come, and we
believe that if they are solved on a
just and equitable basis and in the in
terests of the plain and conservative
people of the country, the work will
have to be accomplished by the Dem
ocratic party. That party has already
stopped the progress of the iniquit-
GUS doctrine of high protection in
this country, and our fight in the flu
ture against trusts and monopolies-
the legitimate offspring of that sys-
tem-must not abate. We believe in
direct taxation, so that the rich and
prosperous may be made to bear their
share of the burdens of the Govern
ment. And while the attempt to re-
store silver as a money of ultimate pay
ment has been defeated at the polls,
no one-not even the most ardent
gold standard advocate-can claim
that our present monetary system is
perfect. In u Judgment, the radi-
cal and fundamental defect of the
present situation is that the Govern
ment is in a banking business, and it
is also our opinion that the sooner it
Is divorced from the banking business
the better it will be for the country.
For thirty years the Republican
party has been responsible for the
financial legislation in this country,
with the exception of the repeal of
the Sherman act in 1898, and the spirit
of compromise and cowardice which
has characterized the course of that
party during this entire period has
brought us to the present deplorable
situation. That party is responsible
for the issuance of the greenbacks in
spite of the fact hat the Constitution
provides thas nothing but the pre-
cious metals shall be legal tender for
the payment of debts. When it
discovered the weakness of this sys-
tenn it undertook to specie
payments, and finding that the prop
osition to retire this great volume of
irredeemable paper was unpopular,
they redeemed it only to reissue it.
In order to accomplish this Senator
Sherman, who was at that time Sec
rotary of the Treasury, established
the 500, O0O, 900 gold reserve for the
purpose of sustaining the outstanding
$243, 00O, 900 of old United States notes,
thus putting the Government un-
equivocally in the banking business.
for the purpose of pacifying the silver
producing States, it resorted to an
other makeshift in the form of the
Sherman law, which provided for the
purchase of four and one-half million
ounces of silver per month, and the
issue of Treasury notes thereon (re-
deemable in coin), thus adding great
or burdens to the already insufficient
gold reserve This was not only bad
politics, but bad banking. This same
act provided that the Government
should maintain the two metals at a
parity, thus pledging its credit to
keep its silver equal of exchangable
vualue with gold, in the face of the
fact that the price of silver was con-
stantly declining.
1t did not require a financier to see
that the purchase of this amount of sill
yer on a declining market and the issu-
ance of Treasury notes thereon, which
were redeemed in gold, would soon
bankrupt the Government. The situa-
ton now is that this 500, OOO, eco gold
reserve has to support $246, 600 900 of
old United States notes and the $149,-
100000 of Treasury notes. The Re-
publican party now has control, and
promises to relieve the situation, not
by going to the root of the difficulty
and taking the Government out of
the banking business, but by increas-
ing taxation. 1t required n of the
old heroes of Democracy, Andrew
Jackson, to take the Government out
of the banking business once before
in the history of our country, and we
believe that IL q similar work is to be
accomplished again it will have to be
through the courageous efforts of a
Democratic administration. 1t goes
without saying that the Democratic
party opposes governmental inter-
ference in every respect. We stand,
as we have always stood, for the
nearest possible approach to the abb
solute freedom of commercial inter-
course, and opposed to any interior
ence with the private business of the
citizen, except so far as may be nee
essary for the preservation of the
public peace, public health, and en-
forcement of honest contracts and the
maintenance of law and order.
THE laws against trusts must be en-
forced. Because money is placed in
corporations is 10 that it should
be unjustly attacked, but the laws
against trusts formed for the purpose