The advocate. [volume], May 09, 1894, Page 6, Image 6

About The advocate. [volume] (Topeka, Kan.) 1894-1897

Image provided by: Kansas State Historical Society; Topeka, KS

                
I,
THE ADVOOATS.
0
CAMPAIGN 07 1892.
Financial Planks of the Democratic and Be
publican National Platforms-Whlch Is Be-publican-Which
Democratic 1
The American peo
ple, from tradition
and interest, favor
bimetaliam, and the
We hold to the oae
of both gold and Ba
rer as the standard
money of the coun
try, and to tne coin
age of both gold and
silver, without dia
criminating against
either metal or
oharge for mintage,
but the dollar mint
of coinage of both
metals must be of
equal intrinsio and
exohangable value,
or be adjusted
through interna
tional agreement or
by such safeguards
of legislation as shall
insure the mainte
nance of the parity
of the two metala
and the equal power
of every dollar at all
times in the payment
of debts; and we de
mand that all paper
ourrenoy shall be
kept at par with and
redeemable in coin.
We insist upon this
policy aa especially
necessary for the pro
tection of the farm
ers and laboring
olasses, the first and
most defenseless vio
tims of unstable
money and fluctuat
ing ourrenoy.
party demands
the use of both gold
and silver as stand
ard money, with such
reetriotions ;and un
der such provisions,
to be determined by
legislation, as will
secure the mainte
nance of the parity
of values of the two
metala so that the
purchasing and debt-
Saying power of the
ollar, whether of
silver, gold or paper,
shall be at all times
equal. The interests
of the producers of
the country, its
farmers and its work-
lngmen, demand
that every dollar,
paper or coin, issued
by the government
shall be as good as
any other. We com
mend the wise and
patriotic steps al
ready taken by the
government to se
cure an international
conference to adopt
suoh measures as will
insure a parity of
value between gold
and silver for use as
money throughout
the world.
Cut this out and carry it with you
in your vest pocket, and whenever
you meet a republican or a democrat,
ask him which is the republican and
which the democratio plank, and see
how many can tell. We will add a
few more questions that it may be
well to ask also.
If it is really the desire of both
parties to maintain the two metals on
a parity with each other, as they pre
tend it is, which would be most likely
to accomplish that resultto treat
them both alike in law and practice,
or to always discriminate in favor of
the one and against the other? To
be more specific on this subject, ask
the following questions:
(1) Section 2 of the so-called Sher
man law of 1800 declares:
That upon demand of the holder of any of
the treasury notes herein provided for, the
seoretary of the treasury shall, under suoh
regulations as be may prescribe, redeem
suoh notes in gold or silver ooin at his dis
cretion. If it is really the desire of the two
parties, as their platforms declare, to
maintain the parity of value of the
two metals, why has the secretary
discriminated in favor of one metal
and against the other by exercising
his discretion invariably and without
exception for the redemption of the
treasury notes issued for the pur
chase of silver bullion in gold, rather
than in silver?
(2) Parity of value is nnderstood
to mean equality of value upon some
established ratio. It it is really the
desire of the two parties, as their
platforms deolare, to maintain the
parity of value of the two metals, is
it not rational to presume that they
would encourage any approximation
of the value of silver, upon the exist
ing legal ratio, to that of gold? If
such a presumption is fair and rea
sonable, when the monthly offering
of silver bullion was made to the
treasury department prior to the re
peal of the law, at the market price
in America, if tnat marie, price ex
ceeded by the smallest fraction, the
quotations in England, why did the
secretary invariably decline to buy,
thereby discouraging the approxima
tion of the price of silver to that of
gold?
(3) Both platforms declare that, in
the interest of the farmers and work
ingmen, every dollar issued by the
government, whether of paper or
coin, shall be equal to every other
dollar in debt-paying power. Now,
just ask your republican and demo
cratic friends if they ever saw a dol
lar that was issued by the govern
ment that was not equal in debt-paying
power to every other dollar? We
will pay a liberal reward for such a
dollar as a curiosity if it can be
found.
(4) Finally, after asking the above
questions, just ask your old party
friends what these financial planks of
their national platforms of 1892
really mean anyhow. Are either of
them anything more than bait to
catch suckers?
WHAT OF GOVERNMENT OWNEBSHIP OF
BALBOADS?
During the last week the oountry has been
treated to a fine object lesson on the work
ing the scheme of government ownership
of railroads. If the railroads of the oountry
were in po session of the government the
Omaha nota last week would have had a
very different settlement. Public traffic, if
not actually suspended, would be seriously
interrupted on all trunk lines by train loads
of tramps and adventurers on a gala ride to
Washington. As co-partners in the owner
ship of the roads the moat indigent would
demand a free excursion to Washington
and would probably be successful In forcing
their claim. Capital, April 29.
Just what is the "object lesson" af
forded by the situation at Omaha or
elsewhere in this country that is any
argument against the government
ownership of railroads is beyond the
comprehension of ordinary mortals.
There are no railroads in this coun
try owned or operated by the gov
ernment, and nothing that has oc
curred anywhere has any bearing
whatever upon the subject except to
show the necessity of government
ownership and management. The
Capital talks of trainloads of tramp3
and adventurers as co-partners in the
ownership of the roads, and the most
"worthless and indigent" demanding
free excursions to Washington. Such
nonsense is an insult to the most or
dinary intelligence. The Capital
overlooks the fact that the "tramp,"
the "adventurer" the "worthless and
the indigent" of the present day are
the product of republican rule, and
that the "object lesson" which the
people are now observing is afforded
under corporation management of
railroads. It overlooks the furthar
fact that by' the time the govern
ment is ready to assume the control
of railroads it will have so far changed
our social system as to afford to all
American citizens such equal oppor
tunities in life as to do away with
such products of republican rule as
the tramp and the adventurer.
What though the roads are in the
hands of receivers? The same man
agement controls them that controlled
them before the receivers were ap
pointed. The object of the receiver
ship is simply to evade payment of
honest debts and afford opportuni
nity to eell a few more bonds for the
benefit of railroad wreckers. Gov
ernment has nothing whatever to do
with the operation of the roads any
more than it had before the receivers
were appointed, and the Capital
knows it.
One thing more. The editor of the
Capital is in total ignorance of the
whole subject of government owner
ship of railroads, or else he designs
deliberately to deceive his readers
upon the subject. In either case he
has no claim upon the confidence of
the people. If he would read the
late work of ex-Governor Larabee of
Iowa, upon this subject he would
learn from good republican authority
that this is about the only govern
ment on earth to-day that does not
own the whole or a sufficient number
of its railroads .to control the rates
and establish the regulations by
which all roads are governed, and he
might learn further that government
ownership is attended with many ad
vantages to the people that Ameri
can citizens do not enjoy, and none
of the catastrophes predicted by the
Capital. What the editor of the
Capital most needs to qualify him
for respectable newspaper work is a
little information and.honesty enough
to use it.
8TAND UP FOB KANSAS.
We are under obligations to Hon.
F. D. Coburn, state secretary of agri
culture, for a copy of his quarterly
report for the quarter endiug March
31, 1894, which contains much inform
ation that will be of interest to Kan
sas people. There is one item in par
ticular to which we desire to call
attention just at this time.
We have heard a great deal about
the ruin of Kansas credit as a result
of Populist success in the state. The
Topeka Capital and other disreput
able and conscienceless papers never
tire of ringing the changes on this
subject. One page 33 of Mr. Coburn's
report is some good, square republi
can testimony to which we invite the
attention of people in general and of
good honest republicans in particu
lar. The article to which we refer is
entitled, "Our Standing in the East,"
and begins with the following letter:
Stati ot Kansas, Dxpabtmimt ot Ao- 1
bicumubi, Capitol Boildinq, To-
piKA, Kas., April 4, 1891. )
Charles S. Gleed, Topeka, Kat.:
Mi Dzab Sib: Having observed the fre
quency of your business trips to the eastern
states, it has occurred to me that you can
say something of interest and value to Kan
sas readers on the subjeot of the present
status of our state in the industrial, oom
meroial and finanoial world. Anything
that will encourage and give renewed faith
to Kansas people they certainly deserve and
want; anything that will instruct them they
ought to want. If you will kindly answer
the subjoined questions, I shall be greatly
obliged. Tours truly, F. D. Cobubs.
The first question of Mr. Coburn
and Mr. Gleed's answer to it are aa
follows:
What will you say of the present general
reputation of Kansas, and how it came to
be aa it is?
The general reputation of Kansas is very
bad among superficial observers; fair
among the middle class observers, and
first-daw among those who observe criti
cally. The superficial observers are those who
know nothing of Kansas except what they
find in the crime and freak departments of
the big papers. The newspapers must sell
if they desire to live; they must be interest
ing if they desire to sell; to be interesting
to the majority of buyers they must oon
tain plenty of "hot stuff." The writers
write what the newspapers want to print,
and so it is entirely natural that the news
from Kansas should nearly always be lim
ited to sensations of the "red hot" kind.
Every managing editor has his mind made
up to aooept and print anything, no matter
how extraordinary, if it only has a Kansas
date line. These wooly stories from Kan
sas are what the superficial observers judge
by.
The second class of observers are those
who pay little attention to what the papers
contain, but yet have only a hearsay, second-hand
knowledge of Kansas matters.
The third olass is made up of those who
have actual, oloae business knowledge of
the state. The man who merely has a bad
Kansas mortgage, or several of them, can
not necessarily assume to know Kansas.
All he knows is that some reoklesa or
knavish loan agent or agency has sold him
bad securities. Kansas is not to blame for
that. Those observers who study the sta
tistics, and are able to intelligently com
pare net results in Kansas with net results
elsewhere, know that Kansas is all right,
and deserves to ranked with the very first
states, and seoond to none. The number
of these careful observers is increasing
rapidly, and when the papers cease from
looking to Kansas for sensational newa
solely, our general repuation will be of the
highest everywhere.
Now, the reader will bear in mind
that Mr. Gleed is one of the leading
republicans of the state. He is the
man who was selected by the repub
lican league last year to furnish
brains to the republican editors of
the state. His testimony certainly
ought to be acceptable to republicans,
whatever estimate other people may
place upon it. Now, there are points
in his testimony that we would es
pecially impress upon the mind of
the reader.
(1) Mr. Gleed derives his knowl
edge of Eastern sentiment from busi
ness contact with Eastern people.
(2) He testifies that the credit and
reputation of Kansas are first-class
among intelligent people who accept
only statistics and reliable informa
tion as the basis of judgment.
(3) He says the bad opinion enter
tained of the state is derived from
the sensational "crime and freak de
partments of the big papers."
Now, here are the facts in a nut
shell: "The big papers" (and none
have been more active or unscrupu
lous in this matter than the Topeka
Capital) have gone to work system
atically and deliberately to tear down
the credit of the state and bring its
people into disrepute in order that
they might falsely say that our repu
tation has suffered inconsequence of
Populist success. A more diabolical
seheme could not well be conceived ;
and its want of success is owing
solely to the fact, aa Mr. Gleed ob
serves, that intelligent people placed
no reliance upon the false statements
contained in the papers.
As a matter of fact no state in the
Union suffered less from the late
panio tli an did Kansas under the
hated Populist administration; and
no state in the Union has better
credit to-day, notwithstanding the
conspiracy of republican editors to
ruin it. What says Mr. Gleed upon
this subject? Speaking of the pres
ent sentiment of Eastern people, he
says:
When the symptoms of our oollcpse from