Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1900-09-25

ness OF Free Coinage Fully ExpIoded-sn-
teilectuai Fiber and Dangerous Character
Of Bryan Revealed In His Appeals to is
norance, Passion and Class Feeling.
II there are any gold Democrats who
are under the impression that the free
silver doctrine is merely Renaissance
kept in the Kansas City platform for
consistency and campaign purposes,
and Is not menace 10 the prosperity
of the country, they should find en-
lightenment in Mr.. Bryan's letter ac-
cepting one of his nominations for the
presidency. He is still determined to
bring about the unlimited coinage of
silver at the ratio OF IL TO /. and he
evidently hopes, and without reason.
that II elected enough state iegisla
lures will be carried by his party to
enable him TO put his policy into opera
ton. His purpose and the energy with
which he would use the great power
of the executive office TO accomplish 1t
is Enthusiastically revealed in his dec
laration: Whether the senate, now
hostile TO bimetaliism. can be changed
during this campaign or the campaign
of 1902 can only he determined after
the votes are counted, but neither the
present nor the future political com
plexion of congress has prevented or
should prevent an announcement of the
party's position upon this subject in
unequivocal terms"
His arguments in behalf of free sill
Yer are of the usual deceptive kind.
He pretends to think that international
bimetallism. under which silver would
have Il standing in the commerce of
the world. is the same as free coinage.
under which the United States would
be coming dollars which its own citi-
Zens would have to take at twice the
value they would pass for in any other
country. He pretends also TO see in
the limited coinage under existing law
by the Republicans of the silver in the
treasury IA confession of the soundness
i of the Is to l principle. Yet he knows
that the present silver dollars limited
in number and kept by exchange on a
par with gold. are merely token money,
and their issue no more comedies that
unlimited quantity of 4t2l2 grain sill
yer pieces would be honest dollars than
that any piece CT paper the size and
quantity of n dollar bill would be an
honest dollar if the law allowed any
body TO take reamS of 1t to the govern
ment printing press and get it back
with the dollar stamp. Mr.. Bryan
might well argue that the Republic
ans concede n demand for unlimited
coinage on a bronze standard because
they issue cent pieces which are in
trinsically worth about an eighth of
cent
On other topics Mr. Bryan shows
himself as usual the politician intent
on making points with adroit evasions
and catch phrases. Nothing else so
clearly reveals the intellectual fiber
and dangerous character of the man
as this tendency at every turn to inject
into his argument appeals to ignorance,
passion and class feeling. His thread
bare figure of crucifying mankind on a
cross of gold turns up in different
forms. He can not argue that an in
come tax is a proper and equitable
method of raising revenue without
availing himself of the demagogic
trick of assuming that by it alone in
the hour of danger can the government
draft the pocketbook as well as the
person. and then indulging in this
cheap panderfng to class jealousies:
Unless money Is more precious than
blood. we can not afford to give great
er protection TO the incomes of the
rich than to the lives of the poor" He
deals with the trust question in the
same glib and specious fashion The
problem of concentration of Industrial
enterprises under modern conditions is
an intricate one. but he gives il no
consideration worthy of the name. He
is as ready to cure the undoubted evils
of trusts with ready made nostrums
applied at random as any quack at a
county fair is TO treat all diseases on
sight. The fact that he may do
infinite harm by recklessness and
plunge the country into panic and stop
great industries does not trouble him
in the least. if he can get fees for his
prescriptions from the empty headed in
the shape of votes.
When he comes to talk of his para
mount issue he avoids carefully the
most important constitutional ques-
ton raised in his platform, and like
wise The most important question
everywhere asked concerning his
future policy: win he at once bring
the ilOlIlt' lEoiil NdUiia anu leave
Aguinaldo to impose his rule on friend
and foe among the natives? He does
not answer. How he will give the
Filipinos stable government of their
own he will not tell. What right he
has. while proclaiming that we have
no business in the Philippines at all. to
plan for prospctorate over them he
does not say. He merely argues that
we can maintain protectorate with
out difficulty or expense. and distorts
the Monroe doctrine by assuming that
il means a protectorate over the Amer
fcan republics. whereas no suggestion
Is more resented by these republics
than that. For our own safety we
have declared that European nations
must not annex territory here, but we
have never exercised the least over |
sight of our neighbors. The establish |
m-nt of n stable government. with a !
guarantee to protect II. il something !
entirely different The constitutional |
question avoided by Mr.. Bryan is his |
Darty'> principle that no constitution |
extends TO Porto Rico. and. of course, |
therefore 10 the Philippines Yet he |
urges that the Philippines be treated |
rs a foreign laid. He must himself see
his Inconsistency. for il has frequently |
been commented upon. but he has no
time to reconcile HIS miscellaneous col |