Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1900-04-24
Maaasa1a pilot.
Published weekly and entered at the Post Office
at Wausauas second classmatter.
Democratic Duty.


the first time the question was given
any general consideration by the Amer
lean people There was nothing said
about the demonetization of silver at
the time it was done in 1873. During
the Harvey Horn debate in Chicago in
1896, Mr.. Harvey proved, by the Con
gressional records of the proceedings,
and occurrences in Congress at that
time, to the conviction of any reason
able mind, that Congress in fact never
did demonetize silver; that the words
of that act which were afterwards in
terpreted in that way were not in the
bill when it passed, but were put IN
fraudulently, either during its engross-
ment, or while it was in transit to the
hands of the engrossing clerk That
was the most corrupt period of Ameri-
. can politics, and it is likely that many
Members of Congress and Senators
were involved in that piece of trickery,
but there were also many whose char
acter was so high that their word can
not be doubted nor their honesty sus
pected, who, few years later, when it
became generally known that silver
had been demonetized declared that
the act as passed did not demonetize
silver, and that as engrossed and pub
lished it had been altered so as to have
that effect. These men were after
wards untiring in their efforts to pro-
cure a repeal of the act, or some
amendment thereof which would more
or less assuage the evil which it had
brought upon the country. The men
engaged in these efforts were both dem
ocrats and republicans, and the meas
ures of alienation proposed by them
led to considerable discussion, in Con-
gress, of the question of bimetallism.
The press of the country did not, how
ever, discuss the question very much,
probably because it had never been
llade party issue, as both parties con-
tinued to repeat, in their platforms, a
declaration in favor of bimetallism, and
press and people accustomed to dis
cuss reforms of all kinds from a parti-
san standpoint seems to be incapable
of becoming interested enough in Il
public question to give it careful and
earnest consideration unless it is made
a party issue.
Cleveland, whether from conviction
or association, probably the latter was
gold monometallist, and during his
two terms of office did what he could
to switch his party with him. This led
in 1892 to the adoption of a platform
by the national democratic convention,
under the control of Cleveland and his
henehmen, which certainly did not
favor bimetallism, and in its reference
to the money question was so worded
rs to give pleasure to the monometal-
lists. The republican platform, on the
other hand rather emphasized than
otherwise the previous declarations of
that party Units national platforms, and
criticised the democrats severely for
their efforts to establish the gold stan
dard Notwithstanding this apparent
conflict in the platforms of the two
parties on the question of bimetallism,
the leaders of both parties were gold
ties, and managed the campaign so adj
roitly that nothing was discussed but
the tariff.
The democratic platform of 1892 did
not speak the belief of that party on
the currency question; on the contrary
it betrayed the previously concealed
treason of the party leaders to demo-
cratic principles; the rank and file of
the party thus had their eyes opened,
and President Cleveland, though near
~ as INSCRIPTIONS as Hanna in the use
of patronage to corruptly obtain politi-
cal ends, met with storm of oppoSi-
ton in his party that swamped him and
his adherents in the National Conven-
ton of 1896 at Chicago. The platform
there adopted spoke the true sentiments
of the great majority of democrats
sentiments which certain leaders of the
party had stifled in 1892 and tried again
TO suppress at this time but failed
The campaign of 1896 was in many
respects the most remarkable political
struggle that ever took place in this
country. The concentrated wealth and
capital of the country, both democrats
and republicans opposed Bryan; al
most every large newspaper in the
country opposed him, and this very alb
normal attitude of the press could only
be accounted for by the fact that it
was owned by the republican and dem
ocratic capitalists who opposed Bryan,
and its venalty under the influence
of that immense corruption fund sub
seribed by the big banks, trusts and
railroads and dispensed by that king of
corruptioniSts, Mark Hanna.
Hanna invented political schemes
and methods unheard of before. The
most potent of these was the bogus
order for manufactured goods "eontin-
gent upon McKinley's election and
which was duly countermanded after
that event, but which in the meantime
scared the unsuSpee6ng manufacturer
and his employees out of their wits.
The most groteSque of his maneuyers
was his printed circular 10 ministers Of
the gospel. Think of moral precsptS
as to christian duty aud honest
money" dropping trippingly from the
sacrilegious tongue of the man who
afterward telegraphed one of his aSSo-
ciates in crime, announcing his success
in bribing his way into the L. 5. Sen
ate, as being proof that God reigns.
That such blatant blasphemer OF
Almighty God, such low bred product
OF = corrupt political school, such 30