The Opelousas courier. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1852-1910, 1898-08-13
The Congressional Nomination.

District is near at hand and is a
very important matter to the people
generally as well as to the party
organization. When the Clarion
presented the name of Hon. E. Il.
Dubuisson we treated the suggest
ion .iestingly, believing'it to be too
unwise to be seriously entertained.
That paper, however, last week,
contains a lengthy editorial serious
ly urging Mr.. Dubuisson's claims.
1t seems to- us that no one should
receive the nomination that is not
entirely in sympathy with the Chi
cago platform, and especially with
the plank which advocates the free
coinage of silver independently Of
the action OF foreign countries. No
portion Of the country has pronoun-
ced more emphatically in favor of
that plank than the people Of the
Sixth District,-and especially of
st. Landry, and we doubt not that
they are to-day just rs earnestly
and nnitedly in favor OF that plank
as ever. So deeply imbedded in the
minds and hearts Of the people of
this District has the free silver is
sue become, that we believe the
nomination of a gold standard Dem
ocrat at this time would disorganize
the Democracy and make probable
it's defeat in this campaign for Con.
gress. The Chicago platform has
not been repudiated by q solitary
Democratic body in the United
States since the last election, except
by the little boiling squad Of gold
bugs that assembled at Annapolis,
and in the interest of Mckinley,
nominated Palmer of Illinois; but
on the contrary it is being re-af1irm-
ed everywhere by the party convcn-
tions, and in our opinion it will be
the leading issue in the next cam
paign and will Ec the Democratic
shibboteth, for the creation of q
billion dollar additional war debt
will force upon all political parties
the necessity Of greatly increasing
the supply of redemption money.
How could the Democracy OF this
District then, with any consistency
or wisdom, put forward as its can
didate gold standard advocate I?
1t is said that Mr.. Dubuisson voted
the Democratic ticket and will sup
port the Democratic nominees
whether in accord with his individ-
ual Judgment or not; but this by
no means answers the objection to
him. AS q candidate for Congress,
he must be in entire sympathy with
the position OF the Democracy upon
this leading issue, and would be re-
quired, as the standard bearer of
the party, to. publicly and earn
estly advocate it from the stump
during the campaign, and in Con
grcss should he be elected, until
such time as the National Conven-
ton may otherwise ordain. That
Mr.. Dnbuisson could not and would
not do that, goes without saying i'll
this community, where he is known
to be a man of firm convictions and
character.
On the other hand, if we are to
have a candidate from this parish,
Judge w. G. Perrault should be
preferred OH the ground that he is
in entire sympathy with the
Chicago platform, and should he
become a candidate the COURIER
will give him it's support. He
however, has not announced him
self, and we understand, will not
do so unless he obtains the united
support OF st. Landry and Acadia.
In the event of his not being q
candidate we should give our
cordial support to Col. S. M. Rob
ertson the present incumbent. He
was q member OF the Chicago Con
vention and has been a consistent
adherent of the National platform,
and will we are informed, stress
the silver Issue in this campaign.
There are also other important con-
siderations in his favor, which
should be weighed, as the matter
is not merely one of the choice of
individuals on personal or local
grounds. Col. Robertson has been
a member of the Ways and Means
Committee of the House for the
last eight years and has an excel
lent prospect of being it's chairman,
should the next House be Demo
cratic, of which there is every pro-
liability. Promotion to the Chair
manship is regulated by seniority
of service, and Mcmillan of Tennes-
see and Bailey of Texas are the
only two members of the commit
tee ahead of Col. Robertson in the
line of promotion. The former has
been nominated for Governor OF
Tennessee and will undoubtedly be
elected while it is we'll understood
that if the House is Democratic
Bailey will be the Speaker, thus
placing the Chairmanship of that
important committee within the
reach of Col. Robertson, and giving
to the Sixth District which greatly
needs Federal aid, a position to get
almost anything in reason that it
may ask in the way of Federal ap-
preparations. 1t seems to us that
this last consideration is of para.
mount importance and we believe
that II will hn so considered nv the