Evening star., 1899-04-10
BRYAN DEFINES DEMOCRACY
Formal Reply to the Letter of Perry q. Bel
mont
Declares the Declarations of the Chi
cago Platform Are in Accord
With Jefferson's Ideas.

| Bryan to a letter written to him some time
ago by Perry H. Belmont in criticism of
| Mr. Bryan's attitude regarding the Jeffer
son banquet:
LINCOLN, Neb., April g. 1899.
| Hon. Perry Belmont, New York
| Dear Sir: Upon my return to Lincoln
| found your letter, containing the original
letter and postscript, given to the press
| some days before l cannot find anything
| in my letter to which you can consistently
| object.
| You began your speech in Madison
Square Garden on August s, 1896, by say
| ing it time for plain speaking, and
! proceeded to accuse the Chicago convention
| of betrayal of the democratic party. In
your Brooklyn speech on September 10,
| 1896, You spoke of the Chicago platform as
| the strange doctrines, born in Chicago of
coalition between the unthinking element of
| the old party and the socialists who mas
| querade as popuistS.
| TT seems that in using the words be
| trayar and 'masquerading, / unconsciously
| fell into the style which you employed in
! 1896, but did not reflect upon the intelh
| gence of the gold standard advocates by
| characterizing them as an unthinking ele-
| ment.
Mr.. BeImonts Challenge.
| You ask, first, that point out wherein
your utterances are 'unpatriotic, undemo-
| cratic, un-American and in conflict with
| the democratic creed as set forth in Jeffer
| sons first Inaugural address, We have no
accepted standard by which to determine
| whether a given opinion is patriotic or
| American, but we have means of determin-
| ing whether an opinion is democratic and in
| accord with the teachings of jefferson. L
| presume you use the word democratic in
| the party sense, otherwise that term would
| be as difficult to define as patriotic or
| American.
The right to determine what is demo-
| cratic in a party sense belongs to the demo-
cratic party. The Chicago convention was
| more purely representative than any other
convention held in recent years, because
! the rank and file of the party spoke on pub
| lie questions through instructed delegates.
The Chicago platform is the latest authori-
tatiVe definition of democracy as applied to
| existing conditions. If minority of the
| delegates to a national convention, repre-
Senting minority Of the members of the
Democratic party, has a right TO determine
| what is democratic, then each member of
| the party has right TO define democracy
| for himself, and to assert that he is a bet
ter democrat than any one else.
| Consider Three Questions.
| "Iet me apply this principle to three
questions upon which you have taken a po-
| sition in the volumes sent me-first. stand
| ard money; second, paper money; third. in
come tax.
jefferson favored the double standard
| as against the single gold standard and
during his administration our nation had
| the free and unlimited coinage of gold and
silver at the legal ratio of - to l. The
ratio was changed to 16 to l during jack
sons administration.
The Chicago platform pronounced against
the gold standard and in favor of the re-
turn to the free and unlimited coinage of
gold and silver at the ratio of 16 to l. with
out waiting for the aid or consent of any
| fhnr dol. h..f iasleC
convention you voted for minority report,
which declared against independent free
coinage on the ground that it would not
only imperil our finances, but would retard
or entirely prevent International bimetal-
lsm, to which the effort of the government
should be steadily directed As delegate
to the Indianapolis convention, two months
later, you supported platform which de-
clared in favor of the gold standard, with
out any declaration in favor of interna-
t!onal bmetallism. You may be able to eX-
plain why the minority rejected at Indian
apoiis the plank for which it fought at Chi
caso.
What MIR. Mckinley Said.
Mr.. Mckinley, in 1891, charged in pub
lie speech that Mr.. Cleveland during his
first administration was dishonoring one
of the precious metals, discrediting silver
and enhancing the price of gold. He insist
ed that Mr.. Cleveland was trying to make
money scarce and therefore dear, and add
ed: He would have increased the value of
money and diminished the value of every
thing else. Money the master, and every
Thing else the servant II Mr.. Mckinley
then understood the real purpose of the
gold standard. as l believe he did, who
could think Jefferson capable of advocating
a policy which instead of securing equal
and exact justice for all, makes money the
master and everything else the servant
Mr.. Carlisle, in speech in 1878, said:
The conspiracy to destroy by legislation
and otherwise from three-sevenths to one
half of the metallic money of the world is
the most gigantic crime of this or any other
age If Mr.. Carlisle was then right, |
believe he was, in his denuncation of the
gold standard, who can believe jefferson
capable of being party to such crime?
After the election Mr. Mckinley sent a
commission to Europe to secure iuterua-
| tional aid in getting rid of the gold stand
ard, and a republican Congress appropriate
ed money to pay the expenses OF the COM
mission. The commission failed because of
English opposition, and English opposition
was due to the opposition of English tinan-
ciers. JefTersonian democrats must have a
better reason for submitting to the gold
standard than the fact that the English
fnanciers favor it as means for raising
the purchasing power of their money.
Belmont Opposed to Income Tax.
'I have selected these three questions be-
cause they are important and because your
position upon them has been clearly defined.
Your speeches abound in expressions of
CoHilueHce III INC Solu StdHudTu your COR
respondence with Mr. Warner sets forth
your opposition to the income tax and a
newspaper item, quoted in your book. gives
you credit for drafting that portion of l..e
indianapolis platform which related to the
retirement of the greenbacks and the sub
stitution of bank currency.
Your prophecy that "a law to prevent
wage earners and salary earners from de-
manding and securing payment in gold dol
lars would not be a winning issue evinces
a tender solicitude for the laboring man. |
might suggest that bimetallism alarms YOU
more than it does the wage earners. 1t was
not the employees who Were frightened at
the specter of free silver in 1896; neither did
the laboring man share your desire to add
to the privileges of the banks.
,"On December 20, 1897, a year after the
election, the Federation of Labor adopted
the following resolutions:
Resolved, That We declare ourselves