Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1900-12-12

driven out Of the party What 10 want
ed 10 TO bring back the party 20 sound
principles and bring back those hundreds
Of thoussnds of Democrats and Demo
cratic synpsthizsrs In ths Norshsrn
States who have been drives away from
rs By free silver and Populian.
sPopulism 10 really socialism IL has
no distinctive features other than social
istic, except the very imprActscahls prop
osi,ion Of the referendum, which, - /
understand IL, means that every impor-
tant bill must be referred back 10 the
people TO be voted upon before Il BE-
comes Q Law; and this 10 Q denial of the
very foundation idea Of our Republic.
which 10 imbedded in Federal and state
constitutions-namely that the people
can be trusted TO select men who have
sufficient ability TO make lave.
The conservative men al throughout
the North, manufacturers, merchants, a.
nsnciers and farmers. are afraid TO trust
this country into the hands OF nen who
not only advocate such heresies % free
silver and Populism, but who also avow
their enmity TO the Supreme Court, for
that great court stands with rs - the
symbol Of Law and order. That 10 all
very clear, and we must free our party
of these heresies, but this 10 only 10 De
done through the people They and their
leaders, big and little, must be made to
see things IS they really are.
Il do not mean TO underestimate the
necessity of leadership IL men like ID.
B. Hill, oS<New York; Quincy OF MAsss-
chusetts, and, say, John b. Smith, OF
Alabsns, and Others, who, while not be-
lieving in the heresies that defeated our
party, have nevertheless gone with the
party TO defeat will now exert themselves
earnestly 10 lay before the voters the sit
uStion as IL IL, there l. no reason why
the party should not be purged Of It's err
rors and put upon its feet again. IL 10
said sometimes that fools never change
their minds, but wise men often do. Z"
Our people have been wise enough in
The past frequently 20 change sheir views
There was = time, just after the DAYS OF
reconstruction, when nearly every man
in the South looked upon the North -
an enemy. Now there IL kindly feeling
between the North and South, and every
thoughtful man must admit that II the
North Is srrsyed politically solid agsins;
the South, il Is not because of personal
enmity, but because the Northern people
believe that the political doctrines to
which We have been adhering. IL put into
practice would be ruinous. so also. only
few years ago vast numbers of our
Southern people believed al one time in
the fsllacies OF the Ocsla platform. and
looked TO see the d1y when money loan
ed by the Government on cotton and to-
baccO would make the South prosperous
Then there are thousands Of people now
living In the South who once believed in
NOthingism- All these issues are
relegsted 10 the limbo of the past Why
cannot our people see that the free silver
question has been settled. and cOnsign
IL also 10 oblivion
I'm conclusion. let me say thar the
chief reliance OF the Democracy now IL
in the press, in editors who have the
ability TO see and courage 10 say that the
verdict OF the American people in 1896,
repeated with emphasis in 1900 means
something. The old sub-treasury ques-
ton WAS in the early days Of the repub-
lie an issue. and IL was settled by cleo
tions SO long ago that men have forgot
ten H. So with Know Nothingism; so
with the right 10 improve rivers and bar
bors. and so with hundreds of other Ia
sues that have been debated and settled
Al the polls. Practical men do not waste
their time IN idle lament over dead is-
sues, and editors who really mean 10 help
the South. politically, on her feet again
VIII address themselves now TO the great
task OF putting the Southern Democracy
in harmony with their brethren Of the
North. II all the newspapers Of the
South had held 10 the same course Of the
Advertiser. the South would not be now
as II is, politically q hermit"