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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 15, 1904)
m -! "OWfrww JANUARY IB, 1904. The Commoner. MR. BRYAN ON THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY Mr. Bryan lias written for the Encyclopedia Americana, now being published by the Americana company of New York, an article on the demo cratic party. This article gives in condensed form the history of the democratic party together with a discussion of some of the more important issues advocated by that organization, and it is re produced in The Commoner by courtesy of the pub lishers. Papers quoting from this article will please give credit td the Encyclopedia Americana. The concluding chapter is given in this issue. THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. In May, 1872, a convention known as the lib eral republican- convention was held at Cincin nati, O., and nominated Horace Greeley of New York for president and Benjamin Gratz Brown of .Missouri for vice president. The platform de manded the recognition of the. doctrines of equal ity of all men before the law, and pledged the party's support of articles 13, 14 and 15 of our amended national constitution. It favored the sacred maintenance of the public, credit, opposed repudiation and insisted- upon, the return to specie payments. The democrats met on Juiy 9 at Baltimore and nominated the same ticket and adopted a Plat form substantially like the one adopted by the liberal republicans. Those members of the democratic party de scribing themselves as "straight-out" democrats met September 3 following, and nominattd Charles O'Connor of New York for president and John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts for vice president; although both declined, nearly 30,000 votes were cast for the head of the ticket. The platform declared that the Baltimore convention had betrayed the rarty into a false creed and false leadership, and' proclaimed that the mem bers of the "straight-out" democratic party pre ferred principle to power, and would not surren der those principles in exchange for offices which presidents confer. The election resulted in an overwhelming victory for the republican ticket, Grant and, Wilson receiving 28G electoral votes out -of 317, and a popular plurality of more than 750,000. The nomination of Horace Greeley Drought to his party a large number of influential republi cans and alienated many democrats, yet the par ty's vote was only about 125,000 more than the democratic vote of 1868; while the republican vote of 1872 was nearly 600,000 greater than the vote of four years before. The democrats entered the campaign of 1876 with courage and confidence. The discovery of corruption in several of the departments, and the conviction of officials nigh in authoiity, together with the panic of 1873, had broken the prestige of the republican party and caused a wide-spread demand for reform. The democratic party took advantage of the situation, and nominated as its candidates Samuel J. Tilden of New York, who had become conspicuous in reform in his state, and Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana, who rep resented all that was highest, purest and best in democratic principle and purpose. The platform described the abuses of power and demanded re form in every department. Among other tnings, it demanded reform ,in the tariff, ana condemned the resumption clause of 1875. - The campaign resulted in a popular plurality of 250,000 for Tilden and Hendricks. The result, however, was disputed, and charges of fraud were made in the election of several states. The situa tion grew so serious that congress created an elec toral commission to which the whole matter was referred. This commission was composed of five senators selected by that body, five members of congress selected by that body, and the five senior members of the supreme court. The senate being republican selected 3 repub licans and 2 democrats; the house being demo cratic selected 3 democrats and 2 republicans, and of the judges 3 were republicans and 2 democrats. The electoral commission thus contained 8 ropub . anJ democrats, and on every contested ?hS2?n X 8t00d 8 to 7' each member throwing his vote so that it would aid his party. The democrats of 1880 indorsed the principles embodied in the platform of 186, protested against centralization as dangerous to the government and denounced the "great fraud of 1876 and 1877 by which upon a false count of the olcctoral votes of two states the candidato defeated at tho polls was declared to be president, and for uio first time in American aistory tno will of tho pcoplo was set aside under a threat of military violence." The righting of tho wrong of 18f6 was declared to bo the paramount issue. Gen. Winllold Scott Hancock, the democratic nominee, weakened his campaign by putting the tariff question aside as "a local issue." He was defeated, however, by a pop ular vote of less than 10,000, and only by 50 votes in the electoral college. In 1884 the democrats met at Chicago and nominated Grover Cleveland of New York for president and Thomas A. Hendrlcus of Indiana for vice president. A platform of great length was adopted; the tariff question being the ono . discussed at most length. Tho platform contained the following plank on the money question: "Wo believe in honest money, the gold and silver coin age of the constitution, and a circulating medium convertible into such money without loss." ibis platform also contained a plank reaffirming tnat portion of the democratic platform of 1856, which indorsed the liberal principles of Jefferson. Tho republican ticket, headed by James G. Blaine and John A. Logan, received a plurality of a little more than 20,000 in tho popular vote, but Mr. Cleveland had 37 majority in the electoral col lege. Tho democratic platform of 1888 reaffirmed tho platform adopted in 1884, and indorsed the presi dent's view on the tariff question as expressed in the tariff message which ho sent to congress in December, 1887. The tariff question was mado the paramount issue, and the campaign waged on this question, and resulted in tho election of vtho republican ticket, and its candidates, Benjamin Harrison and Levi P. Morton, that ticket hav ing a majority of 65 in the electoral college, al though tho democratic ticket had a popular plu rality of aliout 100,000. During the Cleveland administration an at tempt was made to reduce tho tariff, and tho Mills bill received the support of the democratic members of the senate and house. The republi cans, however, took advantage of the republican victory of 1888 to propose and enact a high tariff law, known as the McKinley act, taking its name from the chairman of tho ways and means com mittee of the house. The passage of this law was followed by an increase in prices of commodities, and it became the paramount Issue in the follow ing campaign of 1892. The democratic party that year nominated Grover Cleveland for a third time, and named Adlal E. Stevenson of Illinois as his running mate. There was a fight in the convention over the tariff plank, and as finally adopted it declared that the federal government had no constitutional power to impose and collect tariff duties except for revenue only. The trusts were denounced, and the party pledged to the enactment of laws made to prevent and control them. The money plank of the platform was as fol lows: "Wo denounce the republican legislation known as the Sherman act of 1890 as a cowardly makeshift, fraught with possibilities of danger in the future which should make all of its support ers, as well as Its author, anxious for its speedy repeal. We hold to the use of both gold and silver as the standard money of tho country, and to the coinage of both gold and silver without discrim ination against either metal or charge for mint age, but the dollar unit of coinage of both metals must be of equal Intrinsic and exchangeable value or be adjusted through international agreement, or by such safeguards of legislation as shall en sure the maintenance of the parity of the two metals, and the equal power of every dollar at all times in the markets and in the payment of debts; and we demand that all paper currency shall be kept at par with and redeemable in such coin. We insist upon this policy as especially necessary for tho protection of the farmers and laboring classes, the first and most defenseless victims of unstable money and a fluctuating currency. President Harrison was renominated by the renublicans and Whitelaw Reld was placed upon tKiket T with him. In the election the democratic ticket polled J ? plurality of W2 in the electoral col- logo nnd a popular plurality of about 380,000. Tho people's party nominated Jomea li. Weaver of Iowa for prcaldont and Jamos G. Klold of Vir ginia for vlco president, and pollod a little moro than 1,000,000 votes. During President Cleveland's second term, two questions occupied public nttontlon, tho money question nnd tho tariff quoatlon. Congress wan called together in extraordinary session In Aug ust, 1893, and tho president rocommonded tho unconditional repeal of tho Shorrnan law. By roferonco to tho domocrntlc platform of 1892 it wlll.be seen that tho monoy plank contained a statement of tho party's faith In tho double stand ard, as well as its desire for tho repeal of tho Shorman act, and an effort to repeal tho make shift without restoring tho doublo standard caused a division In tho ranks of tho party, but the president succeeded in securing tho legislation which he desired; doing this, ho'vevor he had tho support of a larger percentage of the repub lican senators and members than ho had of tho democrats. Congressman Wilson, fhalrman of tho ways and means committee, reported a moasurc which bears his name,. and tho bill as it passed tho house was satisfactory to tho friends of tariff re form, but It was emasculated by tho senate, whoro a coterie of democratic senators refused to sup port It until tho rates of several schedules wcro raised. Tho president refused to sign tho bill, but allowed It to becomo a law without his signature. This bill contained an income tax, but this clause was declared unconstitutional by tho supremo court, the voto standing 5 to 4. Tho decision was rendered at tho second hearing; at tho first hear ing tho voto stood 4 to 4, nnd us tho ninth judgo who was not present until the second hearing favored the tax, it required a change of opinion on tho part of ono of the judges to render the income tax inoperative After tho passage of the tariff law tho cur rency question again occupied the attention of congress and became tho paramount issue in tho campaign of 1896. Tho monoy Issue was fought out In the party and tho delegates to tho Chicago convention were Instructed to carry out the finan cial policy indorsed by the members of the state convention selecting them, who in turn had boon instructed by county conventions. As a result of this inter-party contest, the advocates of bimetal lism won a decisive victory having moro than two-thirds of tho national delegates. The following platform was adopted: "We, the democrats of tho United States in national convention assembled, do reaffirm our al legiance to those great essential principles of jus tice and liberty, upon which our institutions are founded, and which tho democratic party has ad vocated from Jefferson's tlm$ to our own freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of consclenco, the preservation of personal rights, the equality of all citizens before tho law, and the faithful ob servance of constitutional limitations. "During all these years tho democratic party has resisted tho tendency of selfish Interests to the centralization of governmental power, and steadfastly maintained the integrity of the duaf, scheme of government established hy the founds ers of this republic of republics. Under its guld ings and teachings the great principle of local self-government has found its best expression in tho maintenance of tho rights of the states and in its assertion of the necessity of confining the gen eral government to the exercise of the powers granted by the constitution of the United States "The constitution of the United States guar antees to every citizen the rights of civil and re ligious liberty. Tho democratic party has always been the exponent of political liberty and rellgioud freedom, and It renews its obligations and reaf- firms its devotions to these fundamental principles of the constitution. "Recognizing tnat the money question Is para mount to all others at this time, we Invite atten tion to the fact that the federal constitution named silver and gold together as the money metals of the United States, and that the firs coinage law passed by congress under the consti tution made the silver dollar the monetary unit, and admitted gold to free coinage at a ratio based upon the silver-dollar unit. "We declare that tho act o'. 1&73 demonetizing silver without the knowledge or approval gl thii, American people has resulted in the appreciation of gold and a corresponding fall in the prices ol commodities produced by the people; a heavy in4 crease in the burden of taxation and of all debtar, public and private; tho enrichment of the money (Continued on Page 11.) Wfrf-r itm&i&trtitiN!!!-