The Farmington times and herald. (Farmington, St. Francois Co., Mo.) 1902-1905, 1904-02-26
PARAMOUNT ISSUES.

The rcorganlHcrs, with the dis.
honesty that has always character.
I2ed their political movements, are
shouting that BRYAN wants to
make IL to the paramount issue. "
! They have read what he saws and
they have read the platform adopt
ed at Kansas City aud they know
that l6 to is not regarded as the
paramount issue by Mr. BRYAN or
| by the other advocates of that
platform, The money question
was declared to hc the paramount
issue IN 1896; in 1900 it was ex-
prcsSly declared not to be- the par
amount issue, but that it is an
Issue Is perfectly evident 10 any
one who will read the papers pub.
lIShed by the rrorganizcrs. These
papers show that they regard the
money question aS mn issue in two
ways First, they make that the
test IN the selection of candidates,
lhr man may favor high tariff or
low la1il or he may have no opin-
ION at all on the tprin' question.
but he must believe in the gold
standard and he willing 10 allow
the ilnanclcrs 10 do his thinking
for him. Aud 50 with other minor
/ questions, but on the money ques-
tlon the candidate to receive favor.
able mention must be- sound ne.
rordlng to Wall street standards
This proves that with the fuau-
rIers the money question is not ON.
: one of the issues, but really tbr
paramount issue. Second why
are the organizers so alarmed when
SILVER Is mentioned, If it is II
dead issue why make such n fuss
over every reference TO it, fit is
htrlcss aud has no supporters, how
can It Justify conservative demo
Gratis IN boiling The very fact
That the reorganlZcrs are So afraid
ol the money question is proof
That there is life enough in it to
prevent lis burial by its friends.
The truth of the matter is that
the reorgani2crS are trying to de-.
rrIve the rank and file of the party
ana 1t makes them mad 10 be- dis
covered aud exposed. They know
lhht some phase of the money
question Is always before congress
and lacking the courage TO meet
the Issue honestly they seek an
advantage under cover of deceit
They also know that back of MI
the surface issues is the con
trolling one, namely, whether the
money changers or the people shnll
r"htfni the government. TO sur
render the money question would
not conclIlatr the reorganizcrs.
Take the result in Ohio. Tom
johnson expressly denied that he
favored free silver aud yet he WINS
MS bitterly denounced as if he had
been an original silver man.
Why! Because he was opposcd to
The rule of corporate wealth. Mr..
Clarke, the Democratic candidate
against Mr. Hanna for the senate
was against the party in 1896; he
helped the Republicans that yeor
aud last tall avoided the money
question. Was that satisfactory
to the iinancicrs! Not at all. In
spite of the fact that all of the Re-
publican papers reproduced his
speeches against free silver he WAS
beaten worse than any senatorial
candidate in recent years. WHY
experiment longert Concessions
and compromises are not exped.
lent even if they were right. Try
to draw platform without reaf-
iirming the Kansas City platform
aud see what the result will be.
No honest statement of the party's
position can he made without in
dorsing the position taken in 1900.
The whole aim of the reorganizers
is to secure nm ambiguous platform
with which to fool the people and
a presidential candidate under Sc.
cret pledge to the money magnates.
Mr.. Bryan will not co. operate
with them in this effort and there.
fore he is the recipient of their
abuse aud malice. But neither
abuse nor malicious misrepresenta-
tion will avail. The issue must he
met.