The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1898-07-06
"JOINED TO THEIR IDOLS"

A Republican Plank Translated.
The Republican party of Minnesota is
progressive. The national Republican
convention of 1896 pretended to be in
favor of the free coinage of silver, just
as soon as Great Britain would assent
For the descendants of the men of 1776
did not dare to have an opinion of their
own, until ''the mother country
(Which tried so hard to eat it's own
darling baby, would give them leave.
But the Republican party of Minnesota
without any ifs or butts or ands It
thinks the bankers of this great COM
monWealth can go it alone, without hid
ing behind the capacious belly of John
Bull. Their own all absorbing stomachs
are now big enough, they think, to
serve as a substitute for Johns huge
abdomen, filled as it is with the plum
der of the whole human family.
And so, at it's state convention, held
last week, it tore off all marks, and re.
solved as follows:
We believe the national honor and
the material interests of the Amerf-
can people REQUIRE THE MAINTEN-
ANCE OF THE PRESENT GOLD STAND
ARD. WE DECLARE OUR UNALTER-
ABLE OPPOSITION TO THE FREE
COINAGE OF SILVER and all schemes
looking to the debasement of the
currency and the reputation of
debts. We condemn the continual
agitation of free silver as tending to
debaueh the public morals and jeop-
ardize the prosperity of the country,
the highest interes of which de mnnd
! mt all times a sound and stable Haan-
ciaI system.
If this was translated into plain lam
guage it would read something like
this:
We believe that the financial in
terests Of the capitalistic and money
lending class of this state and of the
world, require the maintenance of the
| present gold standard, whereby the me
| tallic money Of the world has been re-
duced one-half, with a corresponding
| reduction of the value of labor and of
| all forms of property produced by labor.
By these means we have seen the rich
made richer and the poor made poorer.
while the great middle class is RAPIDLY
| disappearing through bankruptcy and
suicide. We declare an unalterable on
| position to the free coinage of silver
because it would double the value of the
farm and cut in half the value of the
mortgage, and would arrest the Dead
Sea March in Saul which the daily press
Is now playing as mankind descends
the dreadful steep, back into the abyss
! OF middle-age conditions, when a work
mans wage was a penny day.
We denounce all schemes for the
debasement OF our mortgages and the
| arrestment of our plumber.
We condemn the continual agitation
OF the free-silver question, by the men
| VINO have been reduced to pauperism
through demonstration, as in exceeding
ly bad taste, and very offensive to the
refined views of the money-lenders OF
| the world. The victims should he con.
tent to die quietly, without kicking
about and wearing out the bed clothes
for we have a chattle-mortgage on the
bed clothes, as we'll as everything else
except the bodies Of the debtors. and
those we don't want, since the unwise
abolition Of slavery has deprived those
bodies Of all financial value.
And now having cast aside all dis.
guises, we confidently appeal to all thu
! internal fools Of this state to come mr.
| and give us their votes.
We especially depend upon all thos1
who are hungry. and don't know wher,
their next meal is to come from, and Al,