The San Francisco call., 1899-04-09
wARWHooP FROM KENTUCKY.

I 1ITH multitude of words SO numerous as to
NJ form an essay rather than editorial, the
Louisville Courier Journal has made reply to
a correspondent who asked; Accepting for the
sake OF argument your view that silver if not dead
issue, is at least dead weight with what would you
replace it, and how would you line UP the party IN
1900 so as to give us fighting chance?'
The Courier Journal, which poses, be it rernen1-
bered, as an organ of conservative Democracy, re-
plies that before began the work of reconstruction
it would throw out the debris OF Populism which
has accumulated among the general mass of Demo
cratic wreckage and then, having cleared the decks
for action, "t would proceed formulate line Of
domestic policies having these four ends in view:
First-The destruction of combinations of CAPT
tai designed to limit production to raise prices and
to promote monopoly.
second-The raising of the public moneys by
taxes fairly divided between production and con-
sumption; beginning with tariff for revenue only
and ending in graded income tax, oppressive to
class or INTEREST,"
Thrd-The recovery to the people Of all fran
chises belonging to the people, but diverted from
public to private uses, by the purchase of corpora
tions and individuals, corruptly working through
State and municipal Legislatures.
Fourth-Such a reorganization and reform of our
judicial system as will remove the courts farther
from the influence of the rich and make them more
accessible to the poor; result not to be reached by
excited appeals and revolutionary menaces, but by
nign and orderly operations of an enlightened pub
lie opinion.
SO that is what they call conservatism in Ken
tucky! to the old disastrous free trade ex
pertinent the retakng by the Government OF all rail-
TOAD and other franchises granted to corporations,
some kind Of change in our judicial system Federal
and State, and the wholesale breaking up of COM
binations suspected OF trying to raise prices and pro-
mote monopolies
1t would require a campaign book OF a thousand
pages to explain what that platform means. What
are the combinations of capital that trying to
raise prices and how they to be destroyed? How
are taxes to be fairly divided between production and
consumption and how is the income tax to be graded
so as to be oppressive to nobody? How are the peo-
pie to recover all the franchises diverted from public
to private uses and what will they do with them when
they get them? What sort of reorganization of the
judicial system is to be made so as to remove the
courts farther from the influence of the rich and
der them more accessible to the poor, and how is it
to be effected without excited appeals and revolu-
tionary nenaces?
The proposed platform is, in fact, out OF the do
main OF reasonable argument 1t is so vague and so
suggestive OF antagonism between rich and poor that
it could not be argued calmly by the coolest
headed OF simply because two could ever agree
as to the meaning of single plank in it It is about
as wild piece Of demagogy. as Bryan himself ever
put forward If that be the best Kentucky conserva
tism can offer it might we'll retire from politics AMI
leave the Chicago platform undisturbed