The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1899-12-29
BEST POLICY
For the Democrats To Pursue n segardIng
National Finances.
New york Journai,)

(New York JournaL)
| 1t is fortunate that the Democrats are
in a minority in the present congress.
They have no responsibility for actual
| legislation. They can watch and criti-
else, and take advantage of Republican
| blunders. And in doing that they ought
| to be able to get quietly together, so
| that by the time the national conven-
ton met they could have a Democra-
tic policy ready to present to the coun-
| try with the united support of the
| party.
The vote by which the currency bill
passed the house last Monday ought to
| be full of instruction and warning to
the Democracy. 1t showed that for
this year the gold STANDARD was stron-
ger than the Republican party. The
bill received every Republican vote and
so many Democratic votes that the
normal Republican majority of 13 was
| increased to 40.
This is by no means the same thing
as saying that the American people
have been permanently converted to
the gold standard. 1t merely indicates
that majority are in favor, of letting
well enough alone. When prices are
high and business booming they can
not be moved by complaint of low prices
and dull times. When the boom is
over, when prices are falling and the
mills are closed. then the financial
question in its old form may then be-
come acute. In year like 1896 we may
repeat the 1896 campaign, but we can
not have an 1896 campaign in 1900, any
more than we COULD have fought in 1868
on the 1854 platform that the war was
a failure.
The best policy for the Democrats to
pursue just now, therefore, is not to
engage in a crusade for the free coinage
of silver, which present conditions rem
der hopeless, but to resist the avowed
Republican purpose to turn over the
control of the country s money supply to
the banks. We have seen in the past
week what that means, and we are only
at the beginning of our experiences.
Now that Rockefeller and his compan-
ions have begun to milk the money
market the possibilities of plumber in
that direction are illimitable.
There should be no money except that
isued by the government. There should
be no pet banks. If it is necessary to
use banks in the treasury's operations
let all have equal chances, and let the
government receive interest on its
balances.
The Republicans have undertaken to
demonetiZe silver and reduce every
thing to a single gold basis. Let the
Democrats stick to coin" Let them
reserve to the government the option
of paying it's obligations in gold or
silver, coins at it's convenience, as is
done in France, the volume of silver
coins remaining limited, as It is there.
Let it require the cancellation of the
national bank notes, let it abolish it's
own gold and silver certificates and
Sherman notes, and let it substitute a
single variety OF government legal
tender paper, interchangeable with |
bonds bearing a low rate of interest |
payable in coin. a.
Such a programme contains nothing |
that would alarm anybody All Demo- |
Gratis. east and west, ard north and |
south, could unite upon it, 1t would be |
popular not only among the farmers |
and manufacturers, burt even in Wall |
street, where the power and rapacity of |
the banking trust have carried terror
and ruin.