The Commoner,
Shanklin's Letter,
Tke following letter from the pen of that
sran Democrat and editor, Hon. John Gil-
srfc Shanklra of Indiana, will Imj refreshing to
lose who helievo in honesty and courage in
olitics. It was addressed to the Indianapo-
Scntinel;
To the Editor Sir: The discussion which lias
E;jeuu uuiiuu out uy me inuyusuiuu luul uiuivwuwiu
hjm a dead and buried issue, at least for the present,
Iprovcs how Ineffectual are pronunciamentos not
ikwthorized by a party convention. Until the dele
gates of the people, duly chosen in conformity
Lwith established usage, shall again meet to formu
late a platform the one last adopted must stand
las the law of the party. We may have our opinions
as to its utility and have a perfect right to ad
vance them as individuals. But no man has a right
fto assume that his ipse dixit disposes of a measure
hvhich was seriously discussed at the last conven-
ition and adopted, even "by a majority of one, as an
official expression of those having the authority
to construct a platform. There is a Xundamental
law underlying"all democracy; it Is that the widest
iliberty shall be allowed, even invited, in the ex
pression of opinion, but that the majority shall rule
I in all cases, and that the principles and policies de
clared by the majority at one convention Bhall
stand as an inexorable law of the party until re
voked by a succeeding convention.
Those who have been in the habit of attend-
ing conventions of any kind, even national conven
tions, know how difficult, sometimes impossible, it
is for a disorganized majority to cope successfully
I with an organized minority. The one Is overcon
fident, or, perhaps, lacks the sinews of war and
does not prepare for battle; the other, conscious
of its weakness, makes careful preparation and
often carries the day In defiance of numbers. Gen-
'eraliy, h6weverthe majority is "bo overwhelming
HiitLt the Intrigue fantl 'schemes of the minority are
powerless against it. This waB the case at Chicago
in 189G, which convention 'culminated in the nomi
nation of William Jennings Bryan on ine glorious
platform that four years later was reaffirmed at
Kansas City. That platform stands today as the
existing law of the party according to all past
usage. A democrat may oppose individually some
of its features; but no living man is authorized to
speak of any of its declarations as a dead and
buried issue. The next convention of the party is
the autocrat that can do that ari autocrat "because
composed of the representatives t)f the people and
the people are the only sovereign power recognized
by our constitution.
It may be urged that in cases where the minor
ity have outmaneuvered the majority the people
repudiate the result when It comes to the polls. In
fact, it is impossible at this moment to recall any
variation of this rule. On the other hand, it may
he asked when the majority has its way, does it
always win at the polls? "There are obvious rea
sons why a majority candidate or policy does not
invariably succeed. The majority of the people
as .between political parties may Jiot he in sym
pathy with the candidate or platform. There may
he a lack of leadership, of organization, of in
formation, etc. After the conduct of the bolters in
1896 It seems unnecessary to point out why Bryan
was not -elected. These bolters, who voted for
Palmer and Buckner or for McKinley outright
those traitors, some of whom calmly admit their
overt act, while others lack the courage to confess
their red-handed guilt those renegades now have
the effrontery to essay the reorganization of the
glorious democracy! Who will follow them through
a slaughter-house to an open grave which Mr. Wat
terson prepared for Cleveland in 1892, but which
has never been filled, for the people believed in
Cleveland then? But let those who are now read-
ing'us lessons in the fundamentals of democracy
and who directly or indirectly by the various
means which the plutocracy was careful to pro
vide, contributed to McKlnley's election, nominate
Cleveland in 19841 The grave Is still open.
As to the Ohio democracy it is unnecessary to
speak. It has made its own bed and the democracy
of Indiana Is not compelled to Ho in it Is tho
Ohio democracy opposed to trusts as now organ
ized? If so, why did It not nomlnato Mr. Monnott?
Ii it opposed to government by injunction and in
favor of an Income tax? Thea why did it not say
so? Has it no opinions at all oa the money ques
tion? It may find that the peoplo are not asleep
on any of theso subjects.
Referring to f reo Bilver, which has been pro
nounced "a dead and buried issue," the peoplo seem
to have said thrice that they preferred a gold
standard. So be it! The increased supply of gold
has undoubtedly In some degree accomplished what
the advocates of free Bilver coinage asked. i'he
quantitlve theory has been vindicated at least to a
certain extent. There are millions of men, how
over, who still believe in bimetallism, "earned
financiers" in their self-sufficiency contend that the
volume of money is now adequate to all demands.
By all demands they mean their demands and in
tl t latter they are undoubtedly correct Tho op
position to free silver is but one link in the chain
of plutocracy along with tho tariff, national bank
notes, national bonds, free franchises for corpora
tions, the monopoly of mines and oh which are
gifts of nature and should therefore bo for all tho
people, and of trusts. If conducted for 'the heneflt
of uio peoplo trusts would ho a boon. As con
ducted lor the benefit of combinations of individ
uals, already too rich, they are a blasphemy.
Allow me to say, Mr. Morss, that wo all un
derstand what the fundamental principles of dem
ocracy are. But if a principle is right does it vary
with varying conditions, and is it not to be applied
when a manifest wrong is being practiced to the
advantage of a few people anyway? Are tho funda
mental principles of "equal rights," "life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness" possible In an z..mos
phero that is polluted by a plutocracy which ex
ists in scorn of equality and in hatred of liberty?
Watterson on Bryan.
The hrilliant rhetoric which Henry Watter
son employs when inspired makes his writing
fascinating. We care little about tho sentiment
but much about the style. The Louisville editor
furnishej entertainment, but he Is unsafe to fol
low as political guide or pr6phet
Just now Mr. Watterson is engaged in reading
Mr. Bryan out of the democratic party. He cou
ples with this task a prophecy of defeat should
he not succeed. Mr. Watterson is Impartial in his
denunciation. In 1892 he read out Mr. Cleveland.
He plead for the nomination of another candidate
and when Mr. Cleveland was nominated ho in
sisted, in. his picturesque phraseology, that the
democratic party would: "march through a
slaughter house to an open grave." Four months
later Mr. Cleveland was elected president. This
is hut one of many similar Incidents which de
monstrate the peculiar ability of Mr. Watterson
as a prophet. Columbia (Mo.) Herald.
The Press as an Educator.
Long ago it was said that the world is gov
erned by three boxes the cartridge-box, the ballot
box and the band-box force, votes, women. But
now a fourth must be added the. mail-box, loaded
by the countless products of the printing press.
Today the newspaper competes with seminar
ies, colleges and universities as an educator; with
courts ns a detector, exposer and punlsher of
crime; with fashion as a regulator of manners,
and with the church as a modifier of mprals.
Through its advertisements and reports of trans
actions and markets, from the price of garden
truck to the plans and achievements of the cosmo
politan financiers of the exchanges and bourses, it
iir the chiof reliance of commerce. It .can also
nullify tho acts of legislatures and the decisions f
courts by creating a sentiment inimical to tkeir
enforcement, and it even assumes to elect presi
dents, to dethrone kings, to declaro war and to
criticise and direct the movements of armies and
navies.
Speaking generally, what the press docs for the
public Including the church la the dissemination
of Information, In unifying public sentiment and
arousing it and bringing It to hear to remedy
wrongs, .expose abuses anu to drag, into light la
sidious vices which perish, when known abroad;
in eoncentrating public attention on unpunished
crime, and revealing the fitaees or unfitness of
candidates for office, cannot be overestimated.
Dr. J. M. Buckley before the Epworth League
Intelligence in Animals.
In a circus in Paris a Hon was given some moat
shut up in a box with a lid to it, and the spectators
watched to see whether the lion would open the 1M
or crack tho box. He did tho former, much to th
gratification of the company.
Female deer, when brought up by hand, often
show quite astonishing intelligence, as do the
males until they become vicious, which they al
ways do. The stag which used to climb the bar
rack stairs, go out on to tho outsldo gallery and
knock at tho doors of the married quarters, which
were tho only place where milk, of which ho was
particularly fond, was delivered" in the morning, is
only one instance in many of their clovorness.
In tho London "Zoo" a largo African elephant
restores 10 his tfould-be entertainers all the "bis
cuits, whole or broken, which strike the bars and
fall alike out of his reach and theirs in the space
between tho barrier and his cage. He points his
trunk straight at the biscuits and blows them hard
along the floor to tho feet of the persons who have
thrown them. Ho clearly' knows' what ( he is do
ing, because If the'b'fscuit does not travel :weli 'he
gives it a harder blow.
Many animals, either pursuing or pursued, ex
hibit a knowledge of facts very little known to the
majority of mankind, such as of tho places where
scent lies or is obliterated and of the effects of
wind in carrying evidence of their presence to. tho
pursuer. The hunted roe or hare will make cir
cles, double on its own tracks and take to water
or fling itself. for a considerable distance through
the air as cleverly as if it. had read up all the
theory of scent in a book. Nor are the pursuers
less ingenious. They have learned the art of
"making a cast." This is the dodge by which a
huntsman alike saves time and picks up a lost
scent. London Spectator.
. . . ..
Reverence Due Respectability.
For my part, while my Tegard for the hypoc
risy of society, which observes the letter of re
spectability and disregards the soul of it, is slight
indeed, I still decline to admit that there is no such
tiing as true respectability, or that it does not
merit reverence. We are most of us sinners, no
doubt; perhaps all of us are. Nevertheless there
.does exist tho principle of purity, chastity and
fidelity. There is such a thing, or such a possibil
ity, as the ideal marriage; -there is such a law as
the foregoing of one's own good for the sake of
others. Actual society is false and corrupt, .hut it
is compelled by the Instinct of self-preservation to
maintain an appearance of being pure and true.
It practises evil, hut it preaches goed; because If
It preached what it practises human society would
dissolve. If there were not always growing up
amidst us a fresh generation of ignorant and in
rocent paiscns, capable of good, our virtuous pre
tenses would be vain, since no one could be either
deceived or benefitted by them. Children are tho
essential prerequisite of any form or Tiuman com
munity or civilization; whether or not we recog
nize the truth, all we do th'at is not exactly evil is
done for them. Julian Hawthorne In Philadelphia
North American.