The record-union., 1899-04-24


porous farming. mining, laboring, man
now in prospect?
JEFFERSON THE STANDARD AND
TEST
In your unWarranted letter to me Of
March 10Th you arraign my political
opinions because, as you assert, they
are hostile to those of jefferson, who
stood for sacred, we'll defined prin-
ciples." Jefferson was by you made
the standard and the test In order to
crafty your desire to know my opin-
ions l mailed to you a correct record of
all l had said or written on the Chicago
platform since the election of 1896. 1
did not, as you wrote in your letter of
the Sth inst, to which I am now reply
ing, ask you to- point out objections.
said: You are at liberty to indicate
and expose any portion that is unpatri-
otlc, un-Democratic, un-American or in
conflict with the Democratic creed as
set forth in Jefferson's first inaugural
address. You reply that you have not
standard by which to determine
whether a given opinion is patriotic or
American. had suspected as much.
y
jefferson you endeavor to make not his
State papers the test of Democracy
but the innovations your co-conspira-
tors. chiefly Republicans, inserted in the
Chicago platform. You complain of our
hrst Democratic platform, which was
Jeffersons inaugural address, that it
dealt only with general principles" OF
course ii did. 1t is the function of a
platform, in the American sense, to deal
with questions the conditions of which
are permanent. Jefferson did, however,
insist 'on honest payment of our debts,
and sacred preservation of the public
fa1th," which you ignore in your un-
reasoning spite against creditors In
your hatred of creditors you ignore the
public credit
Again shifting your position, you for
get to apply Jefferson's platform to
these three topics on which, you say,
have taken a position First, stand
ard money; second, paper money; third
the income tax.
AS to the first, you affirm that JEFF
ferson favored the double standard" ;"
but the Chicago platform declared that
the first coinage law of 1892 set up
single standard which was the silver
dollar, and insisted that alone was
Democratic
As to the second, there is not paper
money under our Constitution. Only
specie can be money" Everything IN
paper is mere currency and should not
be legal tender. Jefferson said nothing
of banks in his ina ugural, but that he
became intensely hostile to the bank
The of ho 70 h II
in his time was enough to excite his
condemnation Mr. Gallatin wrote on
June IA, 1871, that Jefferson 'lived and
died a decided enemy to our banking
system generally, and especially to a
bank of the United States" but in the
Briscoe (Kentucky) case a Democratic
Supreme Court, led by Taney, decided
that a State could empower a bank TO
issue circulating notes and that they
would be protected by the Constitution
l leave you to wrestle with that judg-
ment and with the fact that the exist
ing national banks and their notes are
Republican creations.
In the darkest days of the war of
1872 Jefferson, on September TO- 1914
did suggest the issue of Treasury notes
for large sums based on specific
taxes, leaving the door opened for the
entrance of metallic money" and urg-
ed the States to relinquish the right to
establish banks, but he did not advise
that. evidence of government debt be
made full legal tender. During sew
enty-three years after the Constitution
was adopted no Democrat, or Whig, toll
Grated that idea.
INCOME TAX.
1t is Misrepresentation pure and SIM
pie to aver that 1 have resisted all forms
of taxation of incomes The volume 1
sent you proves it. In my friendly
correspondence with Mr. Warner, to
which you refer, I said: 1.-The income
tax may be the most equitable of all
taxes if exclusive" I condemned the
income tax which the Supreme Court
declared unconstitutional. / referred
to the disaster which might ensue if
the United States and a State should
tax the same income, and also to the
feasibility of income and inheritance
taxes laid only by the several States,
provided those taxes were not so un
equally laid as to violate the fourteenth
amendment
ENGLISH ALLIANCE AND BIMET-
ALLISM.
There is similar misrepresentation
when you describe me as advocating
gold monometallism. 1 have always
stood by the National Democratic plat
form of 1892 1 infer that you con-
demn. as I do. a proposed alliance be-
tween the two English speaking ma
tions. If such alliance be entangling
in hn
and if it ALLEVIATE the present honest
friendship" of other powerful nations,
it should not be encouraged. A really
Democratic President chosen in 1900,
having a Secretary of State and of the
Treasury inspired by intelligent faith
in and zeal fer international bimetal-
lism, might out of the desire of the two
nations to promote the policy Of the
United States and the welfare of both
Governments, accomplish even more
than the Wolcott Commission might
have achieved had it not been for the
sudden and unexpected resistance which
came from Calcutta. That first COM
mon interest of the United States and
the United Kingdom you appear not to
perceive.
BRYAN'S EVASION.
L put to you in my letter two or three
questions easily capable of an affirm
ative. or negative, reply.
One was, DO you deem the money
question as presented in the Chicago
platform as now paramount to all 9th
ers?' You evade.
Another was, DO you insist on the
infallibility of the coinage ratio of 16
to l as a test of Democracy" You
again evade.
Another was, Must all Democratic