Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1899-12-21

proof positive that all the Tools are
not dead yet or. at any rate. were not
dead in 1896
Contracts the Currency.
But an astounding change has come
DER the spirit of his dream, and he
now urgently recommends to support
the gold standard a measure which
not only establishes by law the gold
standard. but which practically retires
the greenhacks. thereby contracting |
the volume of the currency by $685.
000,O 600, gives carte blanche to the sec /
rotary of the treasury to issue bonds, |
abdicates the paramount function of
government--that of regulating the |
quantity of money-and turns the
financial interests of the country over |
to the tender mercies of the National |
Bank association. comforting upon 1t |
the power to expand or contract the |
volume of our circulating medium at |
will, power too vast and too dan |
gerous to be intrusted to any private |
persons or to any corporation whatso- |
ever.
have no unkIndness in my heart to- |
ward the president. repeat now what |
| have said repeatedly-th he is a |
gracious. graceful. tactful, agreeable |
gentleman. AS presidential poll |
tician he ranks with Martin Van Buren, |
and Abraham Lincoln. He is never in
advance of his party. He never lags
behind it. He keeps abreast of it.
His finger is constantly on the Repub- |
Iican pulse His ear is close to the
Republican heart to catch its every |
throb His position may always be
safely taken as the position of the Re
publican majority. So far as ! know
he is the only occupant of the White !
House that ever by an oratorical tour
elected enough of his party to the
house of representatives to change in
to majority what would otherwise
have been a minority. With consum
mate skill he converted popular enthu-
siasm for his high position to partisan
advantage a performance which can
be complained of. If at all only on
grounds of taste Whether to his
Swing around the circle" may be ap-
piled the old Latin dictum. "De gusti
bus non est disputandum." | shall not
now undertake TO say.
1t will moi do for western Republic
an gold standard advocates to say
now that they are occupying in 1899
the same position they held in 1896,
for by so doing they give the lie di-
rect to nearly every Republican speak
err who appeared upon the stump west
of the Alleghanies in the presidential
campaign and to every Republican ed
itor who supported Mr. Mckinney
throughout all that vast region.
Political Trickery.
Furthermore. they are estopped by
their multifarious declarations in pub
lie speech and in the public press from
now denying that the plank in favor of
bimetallism by international agree
ment was placed in the platform in
sood faith or that they then believed
bimetallism to be correct in principle
CT that they intended to honestly en-
deavor to secure it in the manner
therein proposed. Should they enter
such denial now they would write
themselves down as the most con-
scienceless set of tricksters and Jug
glers that ever played upon the creduli-
ty of confiding people. 1t would be
decidedly interesting to know precise
ly what Senator Wolcott of Colorado
and the other American international
bimetallic commissioners think of the
honesty of purpose of this administra-
ton in the futile endeavor to secure
bimetallism by international agree
ment. Their candid opinion of the in
terview of Hon. Lyman J. Gage with
which he hamstrung them just as they
were about to succeed in securing BIZ
metallism by international agreement
and brought all their labors to an in
glorious conclusion would contribute
largely to the gayety of nations. if not
to the gayety of the secretary of the
treasury. | have often imagined the
Junior senator from the Centennial
State chewing the bitter cud of disap-
pointment and repeating Tennyson's
apostrophe to the ocean:
Break breski break on thy cold gray stones.
sea!
And l wish that my tongue could utter the
thoughts that arise in mel
Perhaps in the fullness of time he
may unbosOm himself. and if he ever
does my prediction is that "Wolcott
on Lyman" will rank with Demos
themes on the Crown" or with Cicero
when he Numbered against Catiline.
Atmosphere Cleared.
There is one great advantage grow
ing out of the present situation. The
atmosphere is cleared Hereafter, so
far as gold and silver are concerned, it
is the single gold standard in its bald
ness and badness against bimetallism.
Certainly there can be no subterfuge,
no paltering, in a double sense here
after The Republican who next year
goes yawping about the country claim
ing to be in favor of international BIZ
metallism is likely to be hooted from
the hastings.
1t is no unfair statement to say that
in 1896 the Republicans carried the
country on one proposition and are
now enacting a very different one into
law. In 1896 both Democrats and Re-
publicans declared for bimetallism-
Democrats by independent American
action, Republicans through interna-
tional agreement. The Palmer Buck
ner contingent. mere bagatelle, were
the only avowed single gold standard
advocates that year. They were the
vanguard of the Republican army.
General John NJ. Palmer is the real
Republican leader. He blazed the way.
He made the mark which Republicans
are compelled to toe. They are three
years late, but they are coming up to
the scratch. Unless gratitude is a lost
virtue, instead of sequestering General
Palmer on meager pension pittance
of $50 per month, the national bank
ers, whose faithful servant he was,
ought to dress him in purple and fine
linen, stuff him with mushrooms.
ortolans, humming birds tongues. ter
rapin and canvasbaek duck so long as
he lives and then rear to his memory
lofty monument on which should be
inscribed this legend. This man led
the Republicans into committing the
most colossal act of bad faith record
ed in the entire annals of the human
race"