New Iberia enterprise. (New Iberia, La.) 1885-1902, 1899-11-04
IF LINCOLN WERE ALIVE TO-DAY?
ny W. j. BRYAN.

puDllcanS refused 10 stand upon the
st. Louis platform, they declared
that the Republican party was
deserting its traditional policy and
that they were not willing to follow
the party in its change upon the
money question. They pointed out
that the Republican platform in
1888 denounced Mr.. Cleveland S
attempt to demonetize silver, and
that the Republican platform of
1892 declared that the American
people from tradition and interest
favored bimetallism. They took
frequent occasion to quote Mr.. Nc
Kinley's speech of 1891 in denunci-
alton of Mr.. Cleveland's attempt to
"make money scarcer and therefore
dearer - money the master, and
everything else the servant"
Each year the departure of the
Republicans from the early ideas
of the party becomes more apparent.
Lincoln often referred to "the plain
people" and to "the common peo-
ple,' but any one who thus classi-
fies the people at this time is sure
to be called a demagogue by the
Republican leaders. When the
Republican party wrote its national
platform in 1856 it invited the CO.
operation of all those who were in
favor "of restoring the action of
the Federal Government to the
principles of Washington and JEFF
ferson," and Lincoln himself was
a great admirer of jefferson. In
1859 the Republicans Of Boston
celebrated the birthday of Thomas
Jefferson, and Lincoln in his letter
Of regret paid the following tribute
to jefferson: "All honor to Jeffer-
son, to a man who, in the concrete
pressure Of struggle for national
independence by single people,
had the coolness, forecast and capa-
city to introduce into merely
revolutionary document an abstract
truth, applicable to all men and all
times, and so to embalm it there
that to-day and in all coming days
it shall be a rebuke and a stumbling
block to the harbingers of reap
pearing tyranny and oppression"
In the beginning Of the party's ex-
istence the Republicans appealed
to the name and the principles of
Jefferson, but at Republican ban
quets nowadays Jefferson's name is
spoken with disrespect, and Hamil-
toms name and ideas are extrava-
gantly lauded.
The significance of this change
becomes apparent when it is re-
membered that Jefferson was the
foremost representative of the
democratic idea, while Senator
Henry Cabot Lodge in his life of
Hamilton points out that the latter
was the representative of the aristo-
cratic idea. Lodge says: "The
republic Of Hamilton was to be an
aristocratic, as distinguished from
a Democratic republic, and the
power of the separate States was to
be effectually crippled. The first
object was attained by committing
the choice Of the President and
Senators, who were to hold office
during good behavior, to a class of
the community qualified to vote by
the possession of certain amount
Of real property. The second was
secured by giving to the President
Of the United States the appoint
ment of the Governors of the vari-
Gus States, who were to have veto
on all State legislation. These
provisions, as may be seen at a
glance, involved the essential char
acter of the Government, and al
though purely republican, came
much nearer to the British model
than any other by their recognition
of classes and of the political rights
of property, while by the treatment
of the States highly centralized
national government was to super
sede entirely the confederate form.
LINCOLN ON THE MONEY QUESTION.
In 1859 Lincoln, in speaking of
the relations which should exist
between money and humanity, said
that the Republican party believed
in both the man and the dollar,
but that in case of conflict it be-
lieved in the man before the dollar.
In one Of his early messages to
Congress Lincoln warned his coun-
trylnen against the approach of
monarchy, and said that his alarm
was caused by the attempt to place
capital upon an equal footing with,
if not above, labor in the structure
Of government. Now the Republi-
can party seeks to settle every
question upon a financial basis.
The dollar mark is plainly stamped
upon every modern Republican {
policy.
Lincoln signed the bill which |
provided for a graded income tax +,
in the Fifty-third Congress the
republican party voted against an {
income tax. II
The Republican party created the {
greenback, now it is planning to g
destroy the greenback. I
When the war closed Lincoln t
began to plan to make the payment '
Of the national debt easier by in s
,reasing the volume Of money S
available for the payment Of debt. I
In Raymond's "Life of Lincoln" t
published in 1865, the Presidents t
views are set forth as follows: e
Nothing can indicate more !
clearly the elation of mind with q
which the President regarded the
future of the country, now that its
,afety had been assured, than the ?
he addressed, in q con- 4
versation at this interview, to Mr.. t
Colfax, who was at this time pre- t