The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1901-08-22
A DEMOCRAT on
DEMOCRATIC ISSUES
Ex-Congressman Waddill Writes Enter
tainingiy on Political Matters.

ing to your request thdt "oule
write an article for the Globe along
political lines. = / undertake to do SC
with the hope Of interesting at least
some Of the Globes readers. Nor Il
it so simple thing to write lnt"lIl.
gently along political lines three
years in advance of a presidential
election. What may today seem 10
give promise Of becoming a dominant
issue may cease TO be OF public inter
est before 1904 shall have come: and
questions that no man has Vet
thought Of may arise and become the
supreme issues III the campaign three
years hence.
Wetoo often confound policies with
principles, so many there are who
hallow with patriotic love and fervor
questions OF mere governmental pol
icy involving only present and tenn
pOrary conditions, and treat such
questions as though they embodied
great and abiding principles. Such
was true. in my opinion, OF the money
question Bime .allisn itself is not
nor never was Il question ofprinciple,
but now and always only a question
of financial policy. 1t is true that
the policy of bimetallism had obtain
ed in the United States from almost
the beginning OF our career as a ma
ton, and had therefore the reverence
that. always attaches to age and ex-
perience; but none the less it is true
that it was and is only a matter of
administrative policy. The real pur-
pose of the democratic contention
for the equal and similar treatment
of gold and silver in our money coin
age was not the enunciatiOn of a
principle, but the declaration OF n
policy intended to secure full, gen
erous sufficiency OF good money with
which to do the business of the cOun-
try and meet the ust demands and
convenience OF the people Given
these and what thinking person cared
whether our money was gold and sill
yer, or either one or the other? And
who cares to-day if all our money be
gold, if only there shall be enough OF
it to meet the reasonable and Just
wants and convenience of the people?
The democratic party was founded
on great fundamental principles
springing out of our system of free
government: and for all time and to
meet all emergencies and conditions.
And it follows and is true that what
might be rightfully advocated as a
sound policy by the democratic party
in one campaign may not be the right
policy to advocate two or four years
later. Take the silver question itself
for an example The condition of
the country and the needs of the peo-
pie made it eminently wise and
right for the democratic party to
adopt the Chicago platform of 1896.
and to declare itself as it did for the |
free and unlimited coinage Of both /,
gold and silver. And in this action |
the party was following the tradi- |
tions and experience of all our past |
At that time 1890 no party had |
ever declared in its platform for |
The country needed |
more money. The republican party |
itself in 1896 did not dare to advo-
cate the single gold standard, but |
begged the question and lodged the
issue by declaring i'll its platform for
bimetallism to be effected |
by International agreement.
To-day we are facing different con
ditions. The dishonoring ofsilver as
a money metal by the United States
and the governments of Europe so |
its value that the miners |
and producers of the precious metals |
largely ceased the mining of silver
and concentrated their efforts upon |
the production of gold. This action
resulted in tremendous and phenom-
email output OF gold in all the gold
regions of the earth. And
new discoveries of gold were made,
notably in Alaska, which further in
creased the supply, experimenting
these conditions with the South Afri-
can war and crop failures in Europe,
making an unprecedented demandfor
American products and turning the
balance of trade so largely TO our
credit, and We find ourselves now
with abundance of gold to meet all