The Commoner.
MAY 8, 1903.
k THE HISTORY OF REORGANIZATION A
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The papers that holted in 1896 bitterly resent
any criticism of Mr. Cleveland or of those who,
with him, contributed to the election of a repub
lican president If any doubt is expressed as to
the sincerity of their plea for harmony the doubter
is denounced in unmeasured terms. A few plain
facts of history may enable the readers of The
Commoner to judge as to the weight to be given
to the professions of Interest in the party, made
by the advocates of the gold standard.
In 1892 the three parties receiving the highest
number of votes all declared for bimetallism. The
democratic party said: "We hold to the use of
both gold and silver as the standard money of the
country, and to the coinage of both gold and sil
ver without discrimination against either metal
or charge for coinage." Ihe denunciation of tho
Sherman law as a make-shift could only be fairly
construed in connection with the language above
quoted, and the qualifications added to the plank
demanding the maintenance of the parity could
not be honestly construed as destroying the broad
declaration in favor of the double standard. Mr.
Cleveland was elected upon this platform and a
majority of the votes were known to come from
the people who believed in bimetallism and be
lieved in it at the existing ratio of 16 to 1.
The republican platform declared that the
'American people from tradition and interest fav
ored bimetallism. The populist platform was more
explicit, and favored the restoration of free coin
age at the ratio of 16 to 1, but while the populist
platform was more explicit, the democrats in the
senate and house had for nearly twenty years
been voting for the very thing tie populist plat
form demanded. As late as 1890, when the Sher
man purchase bill was passed, the democrats of
the house, by an overwhelming majority, voted in
favor of a motion to recommit the Sherman bill
with instructions to bring in a free coinage bill.
Aa-soon as Mr. Cleveland took his seat even
before he began to plan for the carrying out of
that part of the platform which pleased "Wall
street and for the repudiation of that part of the
platform which secured him a majority of the
votes that elected him. In August, 1893, he called
congress together in extraordinary session and
caused to be Introduced a bill identical with the
bill introduced by John Sherman a year before.
He forced this republican measure through con
gress by the aid of patronage, the bill receiving
a larger percentage of republican votes than of
democratic votes. A number of democrats" who
could not be corrupted by patronage were de
ceived by the promise that legislation in favor of
the restoratidn of silver would be undertaken as
soon as the Sherman bill was repealed. As soon
as the repeal was accomplished the democrats at
tempted to secure the coinage of the seigniorage,
and a number of the democratic members who
were misled into voting for the repeal of the
Sherman law supported the seigniorage bill with
great enthusiasm, but the president, following the
dictation of Wall street, vetoed this bill in spite
of the fact that a majority of the democrats of
both houses had voted for it
This convinced the democrats that Mr. Cleve
land did not intend to keep the pledge made by
the platform In favor of bimetallism, but was in
tent only upon compelling the carrying out of a
-policy formulated by Wall street and in the In
terest of "Wall street. Later, the president made
i, contract with the Rothschild-Morgan syndicate,
by which some $60,000,000 of bonds were sold at
.about $1.04, much less than they would have
brought in the open market In reporting to con
gress this transaction a transaction in which hia
former law partner represented the syndicate he
announced that the syndicate bad offered better
terms, provided congress would authorize the is
sue of gold bonds, and his representatives in the
tfiouse tried to secure authority for the issue of
gold bonds, but were defeated.
Still later, Mr. Cleveland made a tentative
agreement with a Morgan syndicate to take" $100,
000,000 of bonds at about $1.05, and Mr. Morgan
.went out to secure subscriptions. When it be
came known that such an agreement was under
..consideration, public opinion was found to be so
hostile to it that the president was compelled to
change his plan and offer the bonds at public
jBale. The offers were several times greater than
the total number of bonds to be sold, and the
bonds were disposed of at about $1.10 to $1.12.
Tust before the bids were opened Mr. Morgan
liimself entered a bid for about $5,000,000 more
than he was to pay at private sale, showing con
clusively that he was either unacquainted with
tho value of the bonds or that ho was scheming
with the president to got tho bonds for about
$5,000,000 less than they were worth.
Mr. Cleveland's administration was so com
pletely dominated by the financiers of Now York
that the members of his own party refused to
Indorso him or to become responsiblo for his
views, and then we saw that remarkable ovidonco
of uncorrupted patriotism and political vlrtuo
which resulted in the overthrow of tho Cleveland
leadership by tho rank and fllo of tho party. This
overthrow was accomplished in spite of the feel
ing of party pride in an executive; in spite of tho
influence of the officeholders; in splto of tho in- .
fluenco of nearly all the banks; in spite of the
influence of all tho railroads, and in spite of al
most all of the democratic dailies in the larger
cities. This country has never seen a better il
lustration of tho power of the people to control
tho party machinery than this struggle presented.
Many of Mr. Cleveland's officeholders resorted to
fraud and deception to defeat the very voters who
had given office to Mr. Cleveland and his ap
pointees. But tho victory was won, and tho party
was redeemed from tho curse of Mr. Cleveland's
administration.
The representatives of Mr. Clevoland In tho
Chicago convention brought in a minority report
protesting against free coinage, on the ground
that it would provont international bimetallism to
which they professed to bo attached, but when
these same men met shortly afterwards at Ind
ianapolis they throw off the mask and came out
boldly for the gold standard which they dared
not admit at Chicago. This was in itself conclu
sive proof that at Chicago they were attempting
a fraud upon the party and the country.
Then followed the campaign of 1896 In which
the influence of Mr. Cleveland, and as far as the
public knew, the influence of every cabinet officer,
was ostensibly thrown to tho Palmer and Buckner
ticket, but really thrown to the republican ticket.
The. Palmer and Buckner committee had a cam
paign fund which seemed to be ample in amount;
it had speakers going over the country denounc
ing the Chicago platform and tho ticket there
nominated. The Palmer and Buckner committee
was in constant communication with tho republi
can committee, and the gold democrats pretended
to hold up one standard before the country while
most of them were secretly working with and for
the republican party. A number of the eastern mem
bers of the national committee, while refusing to
resign their places upon tho committee, refused to
give assistance to the party. They even refused to
attend the meetings when tho democratic canai
dates spoke in the towns where they lived. And
yet in spite of desertion, deception, corruption,
fraud, intimidation and all tho other means em
ployed, the democratic ticket polled about a mil
lion more votes than Mr. Cleveland polled four
years before.
The gold democrats attacked tho democratic
platform at three points: first, the silver plank,
and yet the silver plank simply declared for a
financial policy that had been, voted for uniform
ly by a majority of the democrats of both house
and senate from 1874 down to the time when Mr.
Cleveland deceived, or corrupted with patronage,
enough democrats to give a majority in favor of
a republican measure. v
The second objection made to the platform
was to the Income tax plank, and yet the Income
tax had been made a part of the Wilson bill by
tho democratic party in congress, and the bill be
came a law by tho failure of Mr, Cleveland to veto
it, although he refused to sign it
The third objection was to the plank against
government by injunction, but this plank simply
indorsed a bill that had passed the senate almost
without objection. The criticism that our plat
form was not respectful to the courts was not
sincerely made, for there was nothing in our plat
form that compared in harshness with the criti
cism of the supreme court made by tho republican
party from 1850 to 1860 and by Mr. Lincoln and
other leaders of the republican party.
The reasons given by the leaders of the gold
standard movement for opposing the party were
not the real reasons that influenced them. It was
not so much any particular plank in the plat
form or even all the planks that they objected
to; they objected to having the party taken out
" of the hands of organized wealth and made re
sponsive to tho wlBhos of tho votora, for no plat
form over adopted was moro responsivo to tho
will of tho members of tho party.
When tho election was over Mr. Cleveland met .
hJs satolltos at a Now York banquet, boasted of
his part in tho republican victory, and declared his
purpose to contlnuo tho fight against tho demo
cratic organization. This was at a time when Mr.
Cleveland and other representatives of the cor
porations expected to marshal a majority of tho
democratic voters against tho Chicago platform.
Thoro was no talk of harmony then; it waB war,
and a war of extermination. In tho fall of 1897
the gold democrats ran a stato ticket, in several
of the states whore tho Chicago platform demo
crats were in control, but where there were sup
posed to be a great many gold democrats. Mr.
Wattcrson with tho Courier-Journal supported
such a ticket in Kentucky; Mr. Cleveland's ex-secretary
of agriculturo put out such a ticket in
Nebraska; and an effort was also made in Iowa
and some of tho other states. Tho result, how
ever, was so disappointing to tho gold democrats
that they decided not to show their weakness
further, and some of them went into the republi
can party whoro they now find congenial associa
tion, while others camo back to tho democratic
party, not for tho purpose of assisting tho party,
but for the purpose of securing control of tho or
ganization in order to do insido what they failed
to do outBide, namely, destroy the party.
In 1898 tho question of imperialism was thrust
into tho arena of politics by tho action of the ro "
publican administration. It looked as If this
might be a means of reuniting the democratic
party. Mr. Clevoland and sovoral other promi
nent gold democrats took strong ground against
a colonial system. Possibly they thought that
there was a chance to secure tho leadership of the
party on this Issue, but as soon as tho conven
tions woro held it became apparent that the demo
crats who favored bimetallism also opposed im
perialism, and that, therefore, the new issue gave
no reason to change the party organization. Tho
trust question also grew in importance, and men
who had helped to put tho trusts in authority by
helping to elect a republican administration ex
pressed their fear of these great aggregations of
capital. During all tho time between 1896 and
1900 the papers that bolted the ticket In 1896 kept
up a continual bombardment of the Chicago plat
form. They spent more time and more energy
in trying to destroy the Chicago platform than
they did in attacking tho republican position, but
in spite of all that could be done by the gold and
corporation Influences, tho democratic voters re
mained loyal to their platform and in 1900 every
state and territory but two indorsed tho Chicago
platform. At the Kansas City convention tbi
former position of the party was adhored to, but
the question of Imperialism was made paramount
and next to that the trust question was given most
emphasis. This ought to have been satisfactory
to the gold democrats, but it was not Imperial
ism attacked the very principles of the republic,
but many gold democrats were more Interested in
the gold standard than they were in our form of
government Tho trusts had shown their ability
to dominate the republican party, but even this
did not bring all advocates of tho gold standard
back to the party. They constantly declared that
the silver question was dead, that events had
killed it, that the people did not want the ques
tion agitated, and yet they themselves made it
tho paramount issue by allowing It to control
their action. On tho 25th of July, 1900, the na
tional committee of the Palmer and Buckner par
ty met at Indianapolis and adopted the following
resolutions:
Resolved, That in the opinion of this com
mittee tho nomination of candidates by the
national democratic party for the offices of
president and vice president is unwise and in
expedient Second That we reaffirm the Indianapolis
platform of 1896.
Third Wo recommend the state commit
tees in their respective etates to preserve their
organizations and take such steps as in their
opinion may best subserve the principles of
our party, especially in tho maintenance of
a sound currency, tho right of private con
tract, the independence of the judiciary, and
the authority of the president to enforce
federal laws, a covert attack on which is made
(Continued on Page 7.)
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