The San Francisco call. [volume], October 12, 1896, Image 1

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

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VOLUE MLXXX.-NO. 134.
ORELAND DECLARES
IT REVOLUTIONARY
Vigorous Denunciation of
the Chicago Platform by
the Archbishop.
At No Time Since tbe Civil War
Has the Nation Been So
Threatened.
SOCIAL ORDER IS IN DANGER
Most Sacred of Federal Institutions
Is the Supreme Court Which
Silverites AssaiL
ST. PAUL, Minn., Oct. 11.— In recly to
a letter of business men of the Catholic
chu rcbes of this city, Archbishop Ireland
to-night gave out a letter it» which he
gives nis reasons why he is opposed to the
Chicago platform. The letter of his con
stituents is an appeal for light upon the
duties of the hour and asks for the Arch
bishop's calm and honest convictions on
the issues of the day. The following is
the reply:
Messrs. Gordon, Dawion, Warner, Etc.—Gen
tlemen: I am not unwilling, in the crisis
through which the country is now passing, to
speak, tor the integrity of the Nation, fur the
prosperity of the people, for tne honor of
America and the permanency of free institu
tions.
I am a citizen of the country, concerned in
all the interest* of the Nation, subject to all
the responsibilities of citizenship. To be silent
when words of mine may be of some profit to
the people would be cowardice, would be
crime. lam not unmindful of the objection
made against the churchman speaking at any
time on matters which have entered the arena
of politics, lest his influence as a teacher o:
religion seem to be used to promote the in
terests of a political party. I might reply that
there are occasions when a political platform
means disaster to the country, when politics
are closely connected with morals ana relieiou,
and that on those occasions the churchman
must be the patriot, without allowing a mo
ment's thought to considerations of expe
diency, and must take in hand the moral or
religious issue, even if it be vested in the gar
ment of politics.
But, in the present instance, I seek no ex
cuse of this kind; I speak entirely as the citi
zen without warrant from my ecclesiastical
position. Deep as my convictions are, I hold
in all due respect my fellow-citizens who hold
convictions at variance with my own. I im
peach neither their good faith, nor their
honor. I em dealing not with men, bat with
Pfiuciplesand movements. This justice which
I render to those whose ideas I am ready to
combat, 1 am sure they will render to me.
I stand by the platform and tne present can
didate of the Republican conversion of St
Louis. lam opposed to the platform and the
Presidential candidate of the Democratic con
vention at Chicago. The days of civil war ex
cepted, at no time did so great a peril threaten
the country as that which is involved in the
political campaign of to-day.
The question of free and unlimited coinage
of silver is put in the foreground. The ques
tion has its importance, but it is of a minor
Importance in the presence of other questions,
which are brought into the movement, which
had its expression in the Chicago convention
and which now seeks, by means of popular
suffrage, to en rhron.e itself in the capital of
the Nation; it is in its right logical effects,
revolution against the United States;
it is secession— the sece ; sion of 1861
which our s-oldiers believed they had con
signed to eternal death at Appomattox, but
which demunds again recognition from the
American people. Tne declaration in the
Chicago platform has, and can have, no other
meaning: "We denounce arbitrary Interfer
ence by Federal authorities in local affairs as
a violation of the Constitution of the United
States and a crime against free institutions."
The words point to the act of Grover Cleve
land sending United States troops to protect
National property and enforce National laws
during the Chicago riots in 1894. In those
words there is the old secession doctrine that
States are independent of the National Gov
ernment at Washington. There is the annul
ment of the Union; there is notice served upon
the fla? of America tnat outs de the District
of Columbia it is without power of self-asser
tion or se.f-defense. The President of the
United States is to;d that to enforce National
laws and protect National property he cannot
march his troops into any State without the
authorization of the Governor of that State
One of the chief speakers at the convention at
Chicago understood the significance of the
convention and voiced its spirit
"I came from a State which was the home of
secession," said Senator Tillmen of Bomh
Carolina. "I say,' he continued, "it is a sec
tional issue and it wiil prevail." And fitting
was it that the speazer, voicing the spirit of
ARCHBISHOP IRELAND, Who as a Gtizen, and Without Warrant
From His Ecclesiastical Position, Denounces the Chicago
Platform and Declares the Doctrine of Bryan Revolutionary
and a WViace to the Nation,
The San Francisco Call
the Cfilcago convention, should bs thß repre
sentative of South Carolina. Thrice has South
Carolina spoken for secession — when it passed
in 1832 the nullification ordinance, when in
186 iit fired on Fort Sumter, when in 1896 it
cries ont: "A sectional issue, and it will pre
vail."
The platform of tne Chicago convention
threatens to end with destruction of social
order, with lawlessness and anarchy. The per
sonifi cation of law and of social order in
America is in our courts and the promise of
safety to our free institutions is the prompt
ooedience to those courts, and now the courts
are to be shorn of their power and shorn oi it
in favor of mobs bent on rioting and the de
struction of property.
"We especially object," says tke Chicago
platform, "to government by injunction as a
new and highly dangerous form of oppres
sion." Here reference is made to the action of
the courts during the Chicago riots, without
whien action there is no calculating how much
ruin should have come to the city. The palla
dium of American liberties is the Supreme
Court at Washington, the counterpart of which
in majesty and in power to enforce absolute
justice does not exist among the nations of
Christendom. But as far as it is possible to hu
man ingenuity, outside of partisan politics,
independent of all political influences through
their life tenure of office, the Judges of this
court rule Congress and President, State and
Nation, and expound the law in all its inflexi
bility, no matter who must yield to it.
And now a convention speaks of the Su
preme Court "as it may be hereafter consti
tuted," intimating unmistakably the inten
tion, if the party represented in that conven
tion come to power, the intention to constitute
the courts by the popular election of the
Judges, by the shortening of their term of
office, or otherwise, so as to make it insensible
to the stern voice of law and responsible to the
pissing whims of political parties. Worse to
my mind than all this is tbe spirit of social
ism that permeates the whole movement
which has issued from the convention at Chi
cago. It is the "Internationale" of Europe, now
taking body in America. Of this one cannot
but bs convinced when the movement is
closely observed, the shibooleth of its adher
ents listened to, the discourses of its orators
carefully examined. The war of class against I
SAN FRANCISCO, MONDAY MORNIXG, OCTOBER 12, 1896.
TRYING TO RIDE INTO OFFICE
The Kind of Support That Fusion Brings to Cator*
class is upon as, tbe war ol tne proletariat
against the property-holder.
No other meaning than this can be given to
the "common people," to the "laborer," to
the "poor and downtrodden," and to the de
nunciations against "plutocrats" and "corpo*
rations" and "money-grabbers" and "bault"
ers."
Many adherents of the movement do not per
ceive Its full meaning. But let them beware;
they are lighting torches which, borne in the
ha;ids of reckless men, may light up in this
country the lurid fires of a Commune. Amer
ica heretofore has been free from socialistic
hatred and warfare; it has been a country of
opportunities for all men, and it has given to
the laborers a livelihood higher and better
than is afforded him in any other country in
the worid. Is this all to be changed? Is social
chaos, gloating over ruins, to be a method of
the social elevation of the masses ? There may
be room in some things for peaceful ameliora
tion through well-informed public opinion
and orderly legislation; but class hatred and
vu t . ; passion never led to anything but gen
eral misery and suffering.
The people of America must to-day look
warily around, guard against catch words and
misleading war cries, avoid giving any coun
tenance to socialistic or anarchistic tenden
cies and know that the first condition of pros
perity to any and all classes of the people is a
peaceful commonwealth and assured social or
der. The monetary question, indeed, is only
a secondary issue in the campaign. I have,
however, my convictions in this matter. The
free and unlimited coinage of silver dollars at
a ratio of 16 to 1 by the United States, inde
pendently of other great commercial nations,
into dollars which shall be made legal lender,
will disturb the whole business of the coun
try and bring upon it a financial depression
far beyond anything which we are now expe
riencing. lam confronted with the pamphlet
of Archbishop Walsh of Dublin on "Bimetal
lism," as a reply to my objection to the silver
resolution of the Chicago convention. The
pamphlet of Archbishop Walsh has no bearing
whatever on the situation in America.
The ArchDishop discusses bimetallism ver
sus monometallism, and that only from one
point of view— the effect of monometallism
upon the farmers' contracts under the land
purchase acts in Ireland. He expresses no
opinion as to the ratio at which silver is to be
coined and he manifestly presupposes that bi
metallism would be brought about by an in
ternational agreement. He alleges that India
was unable to keep a silver currency inde
pendently it European nations. "It was im
possible for India to obtain the loans that are
absolutely necessary for the development of
the country" and the reason was ''the fluctua
tions in the relative value of the rupee.'
--"It is the «ilver currency of China," he adds,
"that stops the making of railways in tiat
country." Walsh's pamphlet is throughout a
solid argument against the Chicago platform.
To what he says he might add that France and
all the countries ol the Latin Union to-day
were ultimately compelled to give up bimet
allism, so long as other countries of Europe
would not.co-operate with them.
The question before the people of America
to-day is the coinage of silver by this country,
independently of great commercial nations of
the world, at the ratio of 16 to 1. This ratio
is the double of the present commercial value
of silver. The consequences of unlimited
coinage in these circumstances are easily
proved. The only hope of the Silver party is
"that under free co.nage we will raise the
value of silver to $1 29 an ounce, measured in
gold."
On what authority is this said? On that of
the mere ■word of the men that make the as
sertion. The experience of our own country
contradicts the assertion. The purchasing of
$50,000,000 worth of bullion (under the Sher
man act) was not Able to prevent the fall in the
value of silver from over a dollar an ounce to
its present low value. The experience of
France contradicts the assertion. France,
with all the countries of the Latin Union, had
to give up the coinage of silver, lest, over
loaded with the silver of the world, it should
lose all its gold. Common-sense is against the
assertion.
Silver is now produced in such quantities at
such small expense of production that its
va.ue cannot be kept up to its former stand
ard. And is the whole business of America to
be imperiled by a leap into an experiment
which those very men who advocate it confess
to be only an experiment, and which experi
e nee and common-sense condemn T
i The boast that the United States is able all
I alone to whip England and the rest of the
! world into the coinage of silver B>i 16 to 1, or
i to force the value of silver up to $1 29 an
I ounce, Is mere nonsense. We are a great peo
ple indeed, but we have not yet grown to that
commercial strength that our country means
the commercial world. Our National pride
| may give us extraordinary dreams of our mr
portance, but it will not do to build the busi
ness of the country upon those dreams.
Would all the commercial nations together,
coining silver at 16 to 1, bring up the value of
silver bullion to $1 29 per ounce? Perhaps.
Strong commercial reasons suggest the con
trary. Would America alone bring silver to
$129? Assuredly not; although, of course,
the new demand for silver from the mints
would give some increase to its value, which
increase, however, might again be offset by an
increase of production.
Some imagine that the ratio of stiver to gold
was always 16 to 1, or thereabouts. The ratio
was constantly changing throughout historic
times. At one time silver was more valuable
than gold; at another time, since the discov
ery of America, silver was ten times less valu
nble than gold. The rntlo is constantly chang
ing, and the question for us to-day is not what
the ratio was at a preceding date, but what It
should be in our time.
But has not Herr Bismarck counseled the
United States to ro ahead and make the ex
periment all alone? Yes; and some Ameri
cans quote his words as authority. The sly
old fox would, indeed, be pleased to see Amer
ica make tbe experiment and go to the bottom
of the sea. Free co nage then will give us
money worth in the commercial market of the
world a little over half its nominal value. No
one Imagines that the stamp of the Govern
ment gives value to a piece of metal; It merely
certifies to the qrality and quantity. Other
wise the Government stamp might as well be
affixed to copper or mere paper. If the Gov
ernment stamp gave value the debased coin
issued in the past by impecunious sovereigns it
would not have ruined the subjects of those
sovereigns, and the assignats of France and
tbe paper issued by Ferdinand of Naples a cen
tury ago would not have sold in the market al
most as Government rags.
Legal tender, compelling man to accept
against theii will money above its commer
cial value in the markets of the world, is rank
injustice. The e«r.y financial statesmen of
America— Jefferson, Morris, Hamilton— never
thought of making the legal value of coin
higner thati the commercial value of tha
metal out of which the coins were made.
Therefore, with the passage ot free coinage,
we shall have a currency rejected at its nom
inal value in the commercial markets of the
world, unstable and fluctuating iv real value.
Business cannot prosper with such a currency.
The first condition of life of business is sta
bility of currency. No one will invest money
of a certain value to-day in commerce and
industry if by the time the raw material has
been turned into marketable wares the cur
rency is likely to have changed in value.
Business in all branches would become a
speculation— a gamble— and conservative capi
tal would keep out of sight. No loans would
be made. It is nonsense to say that capital i
must put itself into the American market
whether tno capital be American or European.
We should uot be deluded by words. We may
clamor in vain for capital. It will not come
to us unless there be security for it. It will
remain in the vaults of safety or go to other '
parts of the world where reward is small but
certain. And without capital there would te
no enterprises and no work for the people.
lam absolutely convinced that the laboring ,
classes will suffer the most of all from free ,
silver coinage. And yet the laboring classes
are those thai are tbe most urgently appealed
to in this free silver movement. A man who
talks against free silver is put down at once as
an enemy of the "common people." i
Well, for my part, 1 am willing to be called
an enemy of the working classes, of "thecom
mon people," if I am in reality advising them
for their Rood and serving their true inter-"'
ests. Those above all others in the land who \
should to-day be on their guard against the
silver movement are the laborers of America.
But wiil not the farmers be benefited ? Will
they not receive a higher price for their prod- |
nets? Maybe a higher price, but not higher
value. Of what use is it to have a dollar, in
stead of a half dollar, if the dollar can pur
■' - Continued on Second i'ago.
ENGLAND'S PRIMATE
CULLED TO REST
Sudden Death of the Noted
Archbishop Benson of
Canterbury.
Stricken With Apoplexy During
Divine Service in the Church
ol Hawarden.
OVERCOME IN GLADSTONE'S PEW
Career of the Scholar Who Became
the Head of the Church of
England,
LONDON, Eng., Oct. 11.— The Arch
bishop of Canterbury, Primate of all Eng
land and Metropolitan, the Right Hon.
and Most Rev. Edward White Benson,
D.D. and Privy \7ouucilor, died suddenly
to-day while attending divine service in
tbe church at Hawarden.
The Archbishop was the guest of Mr.
Gladstone, through whom he was ap
pointed to the Archbishopric of Canter
bury, and, in company with the Gladstone
family, went to the Hawarden Church this
morning. After the service had com
menced a commotion was noticed in the
Gladstone pew, and immediately there
after church attendants were seen remov
ing the Aichbishop, who, it was sup
posed, was suffering from a fit. He was
taken to the rectory and medical assist
ance was hastily summoned. The doctors
worked over him in vain, and at 11:45
o'clock he died. The physicians state that
death was caused by apoplexy. Arch
bishop Benson was 67 years of age.
The Archbishop and his wife arrived at
Hawarden Castle, Mr. Gladstone's resi
dence, Saturday evening, from the north
of Ireland, where they had been visiting.
The Archbishop appeared to be in the best
of health. He attended communion at tbe
Hawarden church at 8 o'clock this morn
ing, and then breakfasted with Mr. Glad
atone and family. Lator he attended the
morning service. The confession was pro
ceeding when he fell forward. The church
attendants removed the Archbishop to
the rectory as quickly as possible. The
Rev. Stephen Gladstone, the rector of the
church, continued the service until he re
ceived a message that the Archbishop was
dead. He then closed with the prayer for
the dead from tbe burial service. .
As tbe congregation left the church the
organist played a dead march and a muf
fled peal was rung on the bells.
Mr. Gladstone was not at the church,
th*> weather preventing. He was greatly
a stressed at the death of the Archbishop.
They had been close friends for a long
time.
Archbishop Benson was esteemed by all
sects for his moderation and broad-mind
edness. His death was announced at St.
Paul's, London, at the afternoon service.
Tbe news quickly. spread, and this even
ing there was a great assemblage at the
cathedral. The preacher highly eulogized
the dead Archbishop for his fervices to
the church, his personal uprightness of
character and lovable disposition. After
the service the organist played the "Dead
March," the congregation standing as the
solemn strains filled the edifice, the great
be!l of the cathedral meanwhile being
tolled in memory of the dead.
Dean Farrar paid an impressive tribute
to the deceased Archbisnop in Canterbury
Cathedral.
The Right Hon. and Most Rev. Edward
White Benson D.D., primate of all Eng
land and Metropolitan, was born near
Birmingham in 1829. He was educated at
King Edward's School, Birmingham, and
at Trinity College, Cambridge, of which
be was successively scholar and fellow,
and where he graduated B.A. in 1852. He
was graduated M.A. in 1855, B.D. in 1862
and D.D. in 1867, Hon. D.C.v (Oxford)
1884.
He was for some years one of the mas
ters in Rugby School and had the head
mastership of Wellington College from its
first opening down to 1872. Among many
dignities he attained were honorable chap
lain to the Queen, 1873, and chaplain in or
dinary, 1875-77. In December, 1876, he
was nominated to the newly restored bish
opric of Truro and was consecrated in 3t.
Paul's Cathedral April 25, 1877. During
his occupation of the see he began the
building of a new cathedral at Truro, of
which the outward shell has cost over
£100,000, much of that sum having been
gathered through 'fche energy of the
Bishop.
In December. 1882, Dr. Benson was ap
pointed by the crown, on Mr. Gladstone's
recommendation, to the Archbishopric of
Canterbury, in succession to Dr. Tait. Dr.
Benson has published sermons and other
works.
Dr. Benson married, in 1859, Mary,
daughter of the late Rev. William Sidg
wick of Skipton, Yorkshire. The annual
value of the see ot Canterbury is $75 000,
and the Archbishop is the patron of 195
livings. In addition to his archiepiscopal
residence at Lambeth Palace he had a seat
at Addington Park, C'royden, Surrey.
MURDER OF A VETERAN.
Alfred Cummin?s, a Member o:
the Leavenworth Home, Slain
With a Hatchet
Lived the Life of a Roc use and Was
Sitting With His Back to the Door
When Assassinated.
LEAVENWORTH, Kans., Oct. IL—Al
fred Cummings, a member of the Soldiers'
Home and a veteran of both th* Mexican
and Civil wars, and late of Company H,
Thirty-ninth lowa Volunteer Infantry,
was found murdered in a hovel near the
Soldiers' Home la3t evenin.'.
Cummings, while a member of the home
for four years, lived a recluse most of the
time, his pension sustaining him. The
murder was committed Friday night, and
there is no clew to the murderer. Cum
mings was struck down unawares with a
hatchet while he sat at the supper table
with his back to the door. The blade of
the hatchet was sunk deep into the brain,
cleaving his skull above the right ear.
Nothing about the hut was disturbed and
robbery was not the motive. A tramp
who bad been staying with the veteran
has disappeared.
PRICE FIVE CENTS.
KILLED BY HIS
ARTIST FRIEND
Count yon Ballestrem ShQt
by Charles Abigsr of ■—
San Francisco.
The S ayer Clams His Gun Was
Ace dentally Discharged in
a Scu fle.
POINT LOBOS PABK TRAGEDY.
Tbe Two Men Had Sought the Sea*
shore to Ply Their Brushes in
Company.
MONTEREY, Cal., Oct. 11.— Count
Wolfgang yon Ballestrem was shot
and kilied late last night at
Point Lobos Park, about six miles
south of Monterey. Charles Abiger of
San Francisco, his intimate friend and
bosom companion, is in the Monterey jail
pending the Coroner's investigation at 10
o'clock to-morrow and will doubtless be
held to answer for the Count's death.
News of the tragedy was received by
Justice Michaelis by telephone last night-
He summoned Constable Hernandez and
they hurried to the campers' hut occupied
by the two artists. In the outer room of the
shack they found the body of the Count
lying in a pool of blood near the door to the
inner apartment. Abiger was just enter
ing the house, lantern in hand, when they
arrived. He was placed under arrest and
brought by Constable Hernandez to Mon
terey. The San Franciscan had just re
turned to the hut alter notifying people
living in the vicinity that Yon Ballestrem
had been Killed. He declared that the
shooting was accidental, his shotgun hav
ing been discharged during a friendly
scuffle.
Undertaker Thomas Olson was sum
moned from Monterey, and brought the
body of the dead nobleman to this city.
Yon Ballestrem's hands are smeared with
clay, and on the stock of tbe shotgun with
which he was shot are clay linger prints,
which bear out Abiger' s contention that
they were scuffling for possession of the
weapon when the fatal shot was fired. A
Coroner's jury will be impaneled to-day
and an inquest held in this city.
Count yon Ballestrem and Abiger have
been camping near this city for some
months, pursuing for pleasure tbe voca
tion of artists. They have seemingly
been the best of friends, and were rarei/
out of each other's company.
When seen this afternoon by a Calt,
correspondent, Abiger was very willing to
give his version of the affair.
"Yes," he said, "it is horrible. It was
purely an accident, however. I will tell
you all about it. Yesterday afternoon
about sunset I was going out hunting for
rabbits, as was my usual custom every
afternoon just before supper. Ballestrem
was making a moid of clay at the time
for his artist's work the next day, and his
hands were covered with the stuff. • I said:
'Well.old fellow, I am going out to get a few
rabbits,' and calling my dog, I was about
to go into the next room to get my gnn
when Ballestrem said, 'No, you must not
go; we don't need any of your rabbits to
night. You just stay right here, and I
will cook supper pretty soon.' I said:
'No, I am going out now,' and then went
into the adjoining room, got my gun and
was walking through the rear room ngain,
when Ballestrem stepped up, seized the
gun by the stock, telling me I must not go
out. I replied that I would go anyway,
and tried to get the gun away from him.
"We had quite a friendly little scuffle,
when all of a sudden the trigger must have
caught in my coat sleeve and the weapon
was discharged. Ballestrem fell against
the wall, and all he said was:
" 'Well, it was not your fault, Carlos.'
"He then dropped to the floor dead. I
was overcome and — something I never did
before — I f6ll down on my knees and cried
like a baby for about ten minutes. 1 then
realized that I must do something if pos
sible, for perhaps my friend waß not dead.
I thereupon rushed out of the house and
over the fields to a Portuguese fisherman's
house, about a quarter of a mile. away. I
asked one of the family to come with me,
saying that I had killed my partner. The
Portuguese are naturally very supersti
tious, and instead of assisting me he
Blammed the door in my face. Receiving
no aid here I went as fa»t as possible to
John lOeitas' house and saloon, located
just at the Carmelito gate. It was a long
distance, but I ran every step of the way,
and v\ hen I reached the saloon I was all
out of breath, to say nothing of being ex
cited over the affair.
"When I reached Freitas' place I found
it closed. I knocked, and the owner came
to the door, but would not open it,
although it was then only a little after
6:30. He asked me what I wanted, and I
told him to open the door, but he refused,
saying that I could tell him from where I
was. 1 then inlormed him that I had
shot Ballestrem and wanted a horse and
buggy to go to Monterey to tell the author
ities, and, if not too late, to procure a
doctor. He told me that he wouid not go;
that he did not have any horse in the
barn, but for me to go to Braz 1, another
rancher on Point Lobos reservation, and
maybe Brazil would go.
"I was on my way to Brazil' s place when
the first party 1 went to s?e met me and
said they were on their wav to town then
and would teli. I went buck home, but
could not summon courage to enter the
room where poor Ballestrem lay. So I lit
my lantern and walked around and around
the hou^e with my faithful dog as a com
panion. You see, he is still with me. Hav
ing lost my other Bohemian friend, my
dog is all that is left, and, as you see, he is
here with me, too."
To numerous questions put to Abiger as
to the wine found in the room where the
tragedy occurred, he said:
"No; I never get intox cated. All Ger
mans drink, of course, but neither Bal
lestrem nor I ever got drunk, and we- most
certainly were far from it last niijht. It
was <nly a friendly scuffle, as I said be
fore, but the outcome was horrible, never
the! ess.
"I have known Count Ballestrem for