* x
The Conservative *
In a spasm of he-
FORMULATED
hysterics au alleged
MKNDACITY.
leged national
democratic convention at Chicago , in
July iSflG , formulated mendacity into
a party platform. That effort at false
hood would win the belt in a tourna
ment with Ananias , Saphira , Gulliver ,
Baron Mnnchausen , Eli Perkins and all
the expert liars in the Dreyfus trial.
Read this consummate specimen :
"We declare that the act of 1873 , de
monetizing silver without the knowledge
or approval of the American people. "
( But this lie is exposed by the Con
gressional Record which shows that the
bill was debated in the house and in the
senate and the archives of the govern
ment demonstrate that the act of 1873
was pending and discussed more than
two years after its first submission to
congress ) . Mendacity now proceeds :
1 'has resulted in the appreciation of gold
and a corresponding fall in the prices of
commodities produced by the people ;
a heavy increase in the burden of taxa
tion and of all debts , public and private ;
the enrichment of the money-lending
class at home and abroad ; the prostra
tion of industry and impoverishment of
the people. "
What about "the prostration of in
dustry and impoverishment of the
people" during the year 1899 when all
business is in larger volume and the in
flux of foreign gold greater than in any
previous year of the existence of this
republic ? What have the supporters of
the foregoing absolutely false and
malicious avowals to say now in extenu
ation of that crime against the content
ment and prosperity of their fellow
citizens ?
How can the same men reiterate the
same untruths in 1800 and ask credence
from the people to whom they lied in
1896 ?
When forecasts , predictions and
prophecies of the vintage of ninety-six all
sour and spoil how can the same sooth
sayers ask to be believed in 1809 ?
Do the American people have no
powers of memory ? Can they recall
a single prophecy of Bryauarchy made
in ninety-six which has been verified
between that year and this ?
What brazen effrontery for the bank
rupted prophets of three years ago to
again enter upon the prediction business
and ask , in the light of the proven falsity
of their former forecasts , decent ,
thoughtful citizens to credit them !
How puerile , insignificant and ridicu
lous are the prophecies made by Bryan
during the last presidential campaign.
Each and every one of them relative to
the gold standard and its maintenance
has been demonstrated false in its
entirety. Not one forecast remains un-
demolished by events. Every pre
diction as to the pecuniary trials and
Bufferings which would afflict the citi-
tA , V
zens of the United States has been
proved a falsehood.
The sixteen-to-ono financiers know
perfectly well now and knew perfectly
well then that
Olio Standard. , , , , , .
their theories put
into practice would make the United
States a monometallic country. They
know then and know now that the free
coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1
would institute and maintain silver
monometallism. But read their incon
sistent platform , of 1896. Look about
for "the paralysis of hard times" and
for "prosperity locked fast" and read
again this putrescent platform :
"We are unalterably opposed to mono
metallism , which has locked fast the
prosperity of an industrial people in the
paralysis of hard times. Gold mono
metallism is a British policy , and its
adoption has brought other nations into
financial servitude to London. It is not
only un-American , but anti-American ,
and it can be fastened on the United
States only by the stifling of that in
domitable spirit and love of liberty
which proclaimed our political indepen
dence in 1776 and won it in the war of
the revolution. We demand the free
and unlimited coinage of both gold and
silver at the present legal ratio of 16 to
1 , without waiting for the aid or con
sent of any other nation. We demand
that the standard silver dollar shall be a
full legal tender , equally with gold , for
all debts , public and private , and we
favor such legislation as will prevent for
the future the demonetization of any
kind of legal tender by private contract. "
The great national -
. , .
al strng g 1 e for
votes will be renewed next year with
the control of the national government
as the prize for that party which gets
the majority. Therefore in 1900 the
old and threadbare twaddle that a
"majority is always right" and the
Latin embalmed blasphemy "vox populi
vex dei" will be roared from thousands
of throats. The efficacy of ballots in
correcting wrongs and reforming bad
methods , however , must depend upon
the intelligence and patriotism of those
who cast them. The vote of ignorance
and vice is not a good medicine to
remedy the ills of a government.
Mr. Carlyle once said :
' 'Practically men have come to imagine
that the laws of this universe , like the
laws of constitutional countries , are de
cided by voting ; that it is all a study of
division-lists , and for the universe too
depends a little on the activity of the
whipperfl-in. "
This is the fusion and confusion view
of ballots. House Rent Holcomb looks
to "the whippers-iu" for an endorse
ment of the populist conspiracy to count
in an amendment to the constitution
and two judges and also for an approval
of his house-rent vouchers.
. , Statesman ship
TALKING. . , . . , .
consisting wholly
and exclusively of talking is not wise
nor safe. Good acts are better than fine
words. The men who can show prairies
plowed , farms fenced , homes built , trees
planted and patches of wilderness turned
into patches of paradise by their inspir
ations and labors are better men for the
commonwealth than professional de-
olaimers and emotional orators.
Carlyle pays : "Talk , except as a
preparation for work , is worth almost
nothing ; sometimes it is worth in
finitely less than nothing ; and
becomes little conscious of play
ing such a part , the general sum
mary of pretentious nothingnesses , and
the chief of all the curses the posterity
of Adam are liable to in this sublunary
world. "
The beginninglessness of deeds and
the endlessness of words are the chief
characteristics of Bryanarchy. Talk
without thought is like food without
nutrients and those fed upon it grow
thin now and promise to be intensely
thinner in 1900.
On AugUBt Slat ,
WHAT PARTY ? .
in Lincoln , Colonel
Bryan submitted to an interview in
which he remarked with silver-toned
sincerity :
"As a member of the party I have
said and still say that an abandonment
of the ratio of sixteen to one would be
equivalent to an abandonment of the
money question , because no free coin
age law can be adopted until a ratio is
agreed upon , and , since the sixteen to
one ratio has been agreed upon , an
abandonment of it would mean either
that the ratio is wrong or that , although
it is right , we are afraid to advocate it. "
Whether as a member of the populist
party or a member of the Chicago plat
form party or a member of the silver
republican party or a representative and
candidate of all these parties Colonel
Bryan does not tell. But , of course ,
one who began seeking office in Nebras
ka with the avowal that he wanted
money in it , rather than honor , is ex
cusable for being less explicit under
present circumstances.
"To the extent that the president can
accomplish it , he has made permanent
and forcible annexation of the Philip
pines the policy of his party , " comments
the Philadelphia North American ( rep. ) .
' 'It remains for congress and the next
national republican convention to
endorse or reject or modify that policy ,
so boldly and nakedly proclaimed by
Mr. McKinley. The great majority of
the American people at this stage are
obviously in favor of prosecuting the
war to victory , but it is not so sure that
they favor the imposition of our rule
upon the inhabitants of the Philippines
in perpetuity. "