Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1900-07-26
a Letter from cIevesster County
Democrat

defued tbs Issuee Of the campaign OF 1900,
in their respective platforms, the only
iobstacle which flags the "(5oId Democrat"
| from following the standsrd-beareT OF the
regularly organized Democracy of the conn
I Try 4 use The term regularly organized
| in is technical ssnse, as implied in the
/ fundamental function of majority rule
/ s the insertion Of the Free Silver plank.
/ This rasfiFmatioB Of the silver question is
presumably the only bar that confronts
the adherents Of the gold standard from
entering the portals of their old Home
stead democracy and because of. the inn
port Of other questions 10 DO settled-it
certainly bebOoyes them 10 carefully anal
ize and compare the two platforms and
their candidates and not allow blind
! prejudice, perhaps, toward Mr.. Bryan, TO
lead them further away from the para
mount issue at stake, and that is, whether
the United States shall remain Republic
or be evolutionized by the persistent,
pernicious and ayaricious policy of the
Mckinley Hanna syndicate into an Empire
Doubtless, the Republican press will now
try TO make it appear that the silver Issue
is sn important one, but observe prior to
the nomination, and. in fact, ever since the
last Presidential election, they have en-
phaticalIy and per sistently claimed that
the subject had breathed its last, and
upon no less an authority than the great
historian of their party, Mr.. Chauncey
Depew: "the Democratic party was carrying
corpse along with it in the campaign of
1902 And yet, if q Gold Democrat finds
ne cannot accept the high authority of
Mr.. Depew's death certifcate-recent
! legislation enacted in Welding the gold
standard policy into the organic law of
the land surely provides the bridge for
him to cross the "maeIstrom" of free silver,
in the present campaign, in which SO many
questions have arisen that need urgent
and immediate rebuke by the Democratic
party for the preservation of principles
vital to the perpetuation of republican
form of government. Attention is also
directed to the attitude of the major part
of the delegates in the Kansas City Con.
gention, if not actually antagonistic to the
recognition and adoption of the silver
PLANK, was surely passive in its support,
as tenet of national Importance in con-
structing its creed for the Administration
of public affairs. The fact that this
plank was wedged in the platform
by such q marrow margin shows there is
no well grounded fear, for the present, at
least, for a Gold Democrat 10 20 into
Mysteries in case of Mr.. Bryan's election,
because the sentiment of the national
delegates in the late Convention combats
any such symptoms of financial action.
Mr.. McKinley's support of the Gold Stand
ard has been anything but constant, and
quote ex-Congressman Jno. De Witt War
ner who was one of the chief organizers
of the Gold Democrats in 1896, and who
will now support Mr.. Bryan.
Mr.. McKinley's virtue as a sound
money man is lately acquired and is no
guarantee against his relapsing to the fnan-
cial heresies he used to have. The differ
ence between him and Mr.. Bryan ia that
Mr.. Bryan's convictions are so strong that
it is hard for him to let go of them and
Mr. McKinley's so weak that it is hard for
him to keep them. The choice between
Mckinley and Bryan is therefore between
a man and a marionette, or really between
Bryan and Hanna, the manager of the
marionette show"
Further, if Gold Democrat argues that
the election of Mr. Bryan would engender
renewed confidence in support OF Free
Silver legislation and would rehabiiitate
the question, then it must follow from the
| same method of reasoning, and be logically
true, that the election of MI. Mckinley
would add zeal and untiring energy
towards the cultivation of the present
strongly imbued policy of the Administra-
ton to propagate almost to the point of
Executive coercion-the radical views of
| imperialism and conquest already inaugu-
rated and upheld by him. And although
the platform of the Republi, an party is
rather indefinite and evasiye upon the
ultimate policy of the Administration
towards the Philippines, we are indebted
20 Mr.. Mckinley himself for his phenome-
nally frank statement in his Speech of
| Acceptance that we will conquer and
hold the Philippines"
Only a year or 80 ago in a message to
Congress relative to the Cuban situation,
Mr.. Mckinley said II speak not of forci-
bic annexation, for that cannot be thought
Of That by our code Of morality would
be criminal aggression Perhaps Mr..
MeKinley's code of Morality" applied to
Cuba only and that when the Syndicate
held their conclave behind barred doors to
decide the fate of the Philippines, "Di-
vine Inspiration" was so remote that it
failed to penetrate the Council over which
the Gods OF Conquest" presided, and hay
ing no code of Morality" to inspire and
guide him he feels justified in his policy
OF criminal aggression, which has already,
according to some authorities, cost about
| 1000 American lives and 10000 Filipinos,
besides nearly . million dollars daily to
carry on this newborn policy of forcible
annexation, with its concomitant increase
of the pension list in addition to the
| S150,000,000 we annually disburse.
If Mr. Bryan had been inaugurated Il
will not say elected, as I am by no means
sure he was mott as President of the u S.
IN '96, does any candid voter who has fol-
lowed the pathway of his Christian con-
sistency and constancy belieye he would
differentiate between the Code of Moral
| ity' applicable TO these islands?
At this writing the military zeal of the
| Administration is so strong that we are
| drifting into participation of conflict
with China, which, if the usurpation of the
authority to define warlike policies con-
tinues to be exercised by Mr. Mckinley,
may bring upon as all the colossal evils
involved iu war, and taking a retrospective
| view of the Republic of France (which has
been almost consumed By militarism) it
must be apparent, even if the Free Silver
issue became more firmly rooted through
Mr. Bryan's election and in the event of its
being finally adopted by the United States,
and the extreme claims of the gold stan
| dard adherents fully realized-"fifty cent
dollarsp-such disaster would not be COM
mensurate with the loss of human life and
the cost of untold millions in carrying on
this policy of acquisition of territory by
military encroaehment, which, if encour-
aged by the election of such tTiumyirate,
as Mckinley, Roosevelt and Hanna, win
sooner or later involve us in all sorts of
conflicts with foreign powers, who might
question our supremacy.
Sir Edmund Burke, in his great speech
upon the "True Policy of Great Britain
towards her American Colonies" says -
That force alone is but temporary. It
may subdue fer moment, but it does not
remove the necessity of subduing again,
and nation is not governed which is per-
petually to be conquered
| With 10000 miles of ocean which lies
between us and the Philippines, it follows
that no fundamentally can compensate
this distance in weakening government,
| when it is well known natural law that
the circulation of power must be less
vigorous at the extremities. But it will be
argued by the Imperiallsts that their
policy will bring prosperity, and I confess
it might, if killing off our people and
| fhprQhv Ioosarino oorarak,4so.