The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1899-03-24
FREE PEOPLE FIRST.

=
manently from til. dnctrinp Of free
coinage of silver at the ratio OF IL to
as an abstract proposition, proposes
that the free silver advocates shall
not insist upon the adoption OF their
favorite plank in the Democratic
platform of 1900.
We can not endorse all the views OF
the Journal, for in some of its utter
ances it appears to us to strike the
KEYS of Democratic harmony very
much at random. Intoxicated, per-
haps, by the rapid concentration OF
wealth anI trade in its great metropo-
lis and the not inconsiderable share OF
that wealth which flows into its own
Golfers the Journal seems at times
quite carried away by the strictly Re
publican ideas of Capitalization OF
power and expansion of territory, but
at other times it deals terrific blows
directly on the solar plexus of Hanna
ism. One of those blows we quote ap-
provingly from the article in question:
1.-The Jour nal believes that the gu
preme duty of the Democrats next
year is to win the election in order to
curb the power of the corporations
and trusts before it is too late and to
put an end to the frightful corruption
which, under the shameless alliance
between the Republican party and
the pirates of wealth, is undermining
the whole fabric of our national life. "
The honest yeomsnry of the coun-
try have been appalled, during the
past six months by the great increase
in the already vast list of combines of
industrial and capitalistic corpora
lions, until now there is hardly an
article of human use or consumption,
including money, the common equiva'
lent of all these articles, which is not
absolutely controlled in quantity and
price by trust. They stand aghast,
but helpless, for our iron-bound tariff,
our currency system, our whole
wretched plan of Republican mis-
government, construed by federal
judiciary which is largely emascula-
ted by the blighting spell of Hanna
politics, render the situation hopeless
and the people stand with their hands
bound behind them impotently watch
ing the destruction of their constitu-
tional form of government, the fore,
ing of that government by fire and
sword upon other helpless people and
the piratical seizure of the fruits of
their own toll. The only hope or
prospect of relief is from complete
Democratic victory in 1900. Let us
place true disciple of Jefferson in
the chair which Jefferson himself as
sumed just one hundred years before
and we may hope for another century
of freedom and progress. If Mckin-
ley succeeds himself as President, it is
no rash prophecy to say that inside of
ten years we may see the practical
downfall of the Republic. Events
move fast these times and falling
bodies gain momentum in heir de-
scent.
The doctrine of free coinage of silver
at the ratio of 16 to is not the only
cardinal feature of the Chicago plat
form, and to our way of thinking, is
not the chief one. We have always
regarded it more as means to the end
than the end itself. The object to be
gained was crushing the power of mo-
nopoly and free coinage was proposed
as not only right in itself and good for
the toilers of the country, but as a
measure which would cripple the mo-
nopolists by depriving them Of the
power to regulate the supply of money.
But, as the Journal points out, what
difference does it make what kind of
money we have if the trusts are to
possess it all, as they assuredly can I'M
der our present financial and revenue
laws. The Journal says: whether
the Vanderbilts or the people shall
fix the terms on which freight and
passengers shall be transported over
the New York Central and Lake
Shore Railroa DIS is a matter of vital
momert, but if the Vanderbilts are to
dictate the rates it makes compare
lively little difference whether they
collect their charge in gold, silver or
paper. If trusts are to control all
American Industries they can keep
the masses poor under any currency
system"
The Journal, in the same article,
advances currency scheme which is
not new with it but was largely out
lined by John Brisben Walker in the
Cosmopolitan year or more ago.
The plan il too volumimous and com.
plicated for delineation here, and we
are not at present prepared to fully
endorse it, while not condemning it,
but we can and do thoroughly endorse
the underlying principle of it which
Is that the currency should be sup
piled by the government am not by
the banks. We WI close py again
quoting the JouI9I,I $ words. used af,
ter speaking OF he app rent impos-
sibility of carrying the great CONNER
cial States of the East TOR free silver ::
Whatever we may think of the
policy of the free, unlimited and indie
pendent coinage of silver at the ratio
of 16 to 1 AS an abstract proposition, it
can hardly be denied that to adopt it
the chief article of Democratic faith
in 1900 would seriously impair the
party's chances of success. Demo.
cratic defeat in that campaign would
mean d renewed debauch of Mckinley
ism, Algerism and Hannaism; it would
mean such strengthening of the grip
OF the trusts and corporations on our
Government as would make it almost
impossible to shake them off, and it
would mean not merely the loss of free
silver, but the probable demonetiza-
tion of the standard dollars already
coined, the conversion of the silver GER
tificates into gold obligations, the re-
tirement and cancellation of the green
backs, and the transfer of the control
of the currency from the Government
to the banks. 1t is u disaster to be
averted at almost any cost.
"If, therefore, the same good for the
people can be secured, and even bet ter
secured, by some other method than
free silver, against which there is a
wide prejudice, it is the duty of the
Democracy to co. slider that method
and to adopt it, provided it is more
likely to be successful at the polls ard