The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-10-27
Paramount Issue
Of This Campaign
From the Philadelphia Inquirer.

From the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The candidates of the Democratic party
for state treasurer and auditor general
arc travelling over the state making
frantic appeals for support of the
voters on the gl ound that there is no
national issue involved in the present
campaign. They proceed upon the theory
that the Democratic party cannot hope to
win the contidCEce and support of the Ing
telligent citizens of Pennsylvania upon a
platform of Organism, free silver and free
trade. They are attempting to persuade
the people that national Democracy means
one thing and state Democracy another.
They seem to admit that the policy and
platform of their party in national af-
fairs are not palatable to the voters Of
Pennsylvania, but they want to fool the
people by saying there is no national issue
Involved in the present controversy.
1t is true there is no national candidate
to be elected this year. but every political
organization must stand or fall upon its
record as a whole. The Democratic party
of Pennsylvania is no better and no worse
than the Democratic party of the nation.
1t is part and parcel of the aggregation
that formulated and promulgated the
Popocratic platform of last year. When
the Democratic convention assembled at
Reading in September it proceeded to
tive and unmistakable terms in favor of
the Chicago pletform. 1t indorsed Will
lam Jennings Bryan as the GLORIOUS
champion of a righteous cause" and un-
hesitatingly announced that the Demo-
cratic party in Pennsylvania would fol-
low his leadership. With unblushing eff
frontery it denounced the Dingley tariff
law and refused to believe that prosperity
would return to our state and nation by
reason of the enactment Of this and other
Just measures in the interest of the
American people.
Here is the language in which the Read
ing convention indorsed everything that
was Objectionable in the campaign of 1896
and denounced the measures which have
helped to restore prosperous conditions
among our people: I'VE, the Democracy
of Pennsylvania, in convention assembled,
heartily reafiirm and reiterate the prin-
cpleS of the Democratic party as eN-
pressed in the platform adopted by the
national convention at Chicago in 1876
and approved by 6,5O0,OOO free and indie
pendent voters. We are firmly and unal-
terably opposed to the single gold stand
ard, which has been the direct cause Of
the financial distress that has followed
upon our people since its adoption, ana we
are in favor of a complete and immediate
return TO our original specie basis as 1t
existed prior to the demonstration act or
1873 We congratl late William j. Bryan,
the glorious champion of a righteous
cause, for his mastery leadership in sup
port of these principles. We denounce
the Dingley tariff law as a measure de-
signed and passed in answer to the de-
mands of trusts and monopolies, every
important feature of which Is a refuge for
the protection of some trust or combina-
tion existing in opposition to the public
good and in violation of the common law"
%
In view of these declarations, how can
any intelligent citizen bring himself to
believe that a vote for the Democratic
candidates for state treasurer and auditor
general is not an Endorsement of every
thing that was Contended for by the DEM
ocratic party in the last presidential cleo
ton? The election in every state this
year will be accepted as an Endorsement
or disapproval OF the policy outlined by
the national administration. Pennsylvania
believes in the Dingley bill. All OF our
business and material interests are attec'"
ed by this measure. By reason of its
passage our mills and factories are once
again set in motion; our wage-earners
have been given employment; our mer-
chants and traders are doing larger
volume of business; our stocks and securi-
ties are increasing in value day by day.
Under Republican rule we are starting
on a new era of prosperity, and every citi-
zen should turn out to the polls on the
second day of November and vote for
Beacon and McCauley as the candidates
and representatives of the party which
stands for prosperity.