The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-10-17
WANT NO OFFICES.
Gold Democratic Committee Adj
dresses the Faithful.

Indianapolis, Ind, Oct. 1.-THE ma
tional Democratic committee has issued
the following address:
ITO the National Democrats of the
United States:-YOur national commit
tee, speaking for the national Democrat
ic party, congratuIates the country on
the emphatic and merited cOndemna-
ton at the polls by the people in 1896, Of
the dishonorable and dangerous doc
trines promulgated by the Chicago plat
form. The moral influence exerted by
the Indianapolis convention, has amply
compensated for the efforts made in be-
half of unalloyed Democratic principles
as held and taught by Jefferson, jack
son, Ttlden and Cleveland. And today,
this platform is the rock and firm foUn-
datiOn on which alone a Democrat can
rest his political faith. We, therefore,
take this opportunity to reaffirm with
accumulated force the principles of our
party enunciated at Indianapolis, in
1896.
called protection, which, in its last an
alysis, involves the spoliation OF the
many for the benefit of the few, is dis
honest, and that it directly and inevita-
bly, breeds trusts, monopohes, and those
special privileges by which the cunning
and interruptions prey on their unsus-
pecting and credulous fellow citizens.
The protective tax is not only dishonest
and oppressive, but 1t Obstructs that
free and natural interchange of commo-
dities-which would increasingly tend to
lessen the cost of the necessities and
comforts of life to our wage-earn1ng
classes. It has destroyed our merchant
navy. 1t has practically driven our flag
from the seas, and has forced US into
the humiliating necessity OF paying vast
and constant tribute to other nations
for ocean carriage. We oppose the ex-
tension of this insular system to any
colonies that we have acquired, or here
after may acquire, and favor, as we al
ways have favored, the widest freedom
IL fe Coll n r
foreign markets, unless we are Wiling
to trade with foreign countries: Es-
pecialIy do we denOunce the Chicago
platform, for its virtual abondonment
of this great and time-honored princi-
's;Fhe doctrine of free silver is an ex-
tension of the protective principle. Free
coinage is the protection OF rev SILVER
mine owners, at the expense OF our Ia
boring classes. This policy, We're 1t
would rob the workers of half
their earnings, and, by unsettling va
lues, would bring about a paralysis of
trade and commerce and reduce US IL
nancially to the level of barbarous and
unciviHZed nations. We are unreserV-
edIy for the single gold standard, and
opposed to international bimetalliSm, so
called, as both impracticable and unde-
sirable. We believe that the theory of
one standard, and the selection of gold
as that standard, has been struck off in
the mint of human experience, as the
result of a slowly developed and bene-
hcent evolution in civilization.
More than ever do We believe that
the continued existence of our national
organization is desirable for the we'll
being of our country. There is no other
party that represents the principles for
which we are proud to stand. Our work
is not completed. We are not only
against free silver, but we are for sound
money.
1.-The same causes that induced the
Indianapolis convention of 1896 still ex-
ist. The financial relief expected of the
present administration has not been
given. The recent utteranceS of no less
than sixteen members of the Demo-
cratic national committee, declaring for
free silver and the denomination of Mr..
Bryan, show cOnclusively that efforts
will be made to fight the campaign of
1900 on the free silver issue, and under
the old leader. As long as the prin-
ciples of the Indianapolis platform re-