| Show SILVER MEN TO THE PUBLIC reasons why They Could not remain in the convention apprehensive of hie file future lim fe of ofton tile people gradually Ura dually un kit tho th time jim come vor for t lie performance jofs of a duty which blunt not hot be Klat irked barleen will never cease falling under tinder a told gold standard teller apparently not at all anxious to bull on an ent st louis Loui june ig the bolting silver men have issued the following address to the people of the united states obeying the call of duty and justified by the common citizenship of this republic we address this communication to the people and the forthcoming conventions of the united states in doing so no we claim no authority or right other than that which belongs to every everyman man to personal convictions con vic but we respectfully solicit the operation cooperation co ot of all who believe that tile the time has come for a return to the simpler and more direct method of naming men for national service ahn has obtained in recent years political party organization is necdet sary because without it the individual voter 1 Is dumb but the party is only the means not the end it is the voice and not tile the sense As the world advances to this wonderful wonder jul epoch ol 01 intellectual development and physical improvement there Is a constant requirement tar for better things the individual feels that requirement and heeds it or falls fall in lifes endeavor parties must also obey the same law it follows therefore that the moment a party shall choose to stand still or retrogress it also be colnes inefficient to achieve the end to which the people are necessarily destined there is no sanctity in mere party name and tile mark of deca decay y is set on individual strength in the nation when the absolute rule of at al organization coerces men from the truth tor for the sake of expediency and in sincere submission to partisan rule for the sake of power recognizing the he value of the asplen ald achievements of political part earlies leas jai in this coultry cou as elsewhere we are yet constrained to believe that for more than twenty epars no one of then them has been entirely sufficient for the needs of the people the great trend to better things resting in tile hie heart arid and purpose of all mechas men has been stayed during the be latter part of this generation by the failure of parties to express in fit their achievements the highest hope and aspirations of the inars of the people who constitute the parties par lies and there here has been growing in this country ewel swi ing with each recurrence of national elections a great mass of independent thinkers and oters which failing within itself to control has gravitated between the two great parties since 1872 excepting possibly the election of 1876 the has swung front from side to side with each four years in 1873 1872 the republican party elected the president in 1876 tile democracy claimed the election lit in 1880 19 the republican party elected lit in 1884 the democrats demo crati elected in 1896 until within wll lili a few vec weeks kc it has hall been conceded that the republicans would elect what has been the cause of this thi mighty oscillation of a mass which tah year has ha probably obtained controlling proportions every man can call answer himself if lie lias has been an observer if he has hid had interests that were affected it he has felt a hope to see greater justice if done and has seen been that hope blasted if he knows that the general dissatisfaction has araten from the fact that party promises made were broken to the people by party performance lie he knows that as soon as the election was over and the successful candidates in stalled they became the servitors of 0 the party and the advocates of a narrow and non progressive policy within w which alone there seemed to be an assurance of selfish safet safety y and partisan approval during all this period we vc have lacked lacked I 1 a great constructive adain admin inq n new pw social lias liaa been put tor oil an effective way ay while in f y i 1 t all the llie departments ot of physical life there have been developments and achievements of 0 care cane find aid comfort to the favored ol of mankind iri in the still greater and more important domain of 0 social reform we have stood still hill or retrogress retrogressed ed i it is not that tile the people have not felt he stirrings of determination that this inaction has endured but because beca ui of the rule role ot of party which has largely controlled men in ahdout and ot of ollice office it has hag been a source of 0 cepro reproach aitch to any man that lie he should hould dare to renounce aunee allegiance c to organization men have been expected to lo submit their views to ill the e dictations of conventions although it iti Is common knowledge that convent conventions lors have been swayed to views and decara lions not tile the most approved by bj the mass of 0 people nor progressive for fare are we do not arrogate to ourselves one iota more of intelligence patriotism or courage than Is possessed by other of our fellow citizens but we feel that the time lime has come ter fer the performance of 0 a duty to the country and for our part though we shall stand alone we will make an endeavor lit in the direction 0 of f that duty parties may outlive their usefulness that truth never becomes obsolete every generation of freemen has the right to affirm the truths ruths of past knowledge and present acquirements acquire ments and if the enforcement of these truths shall make necessary a departure from from party organization tile the people have this right and will exercise it until the old parties shall return to the truth or new parties shall be created to effect it into law if the voices which have sounded to us from every state in this U union nion are arc an indication of the real feelings this year is i the appointed time for the people to ass assert ert them themselves selves through such mediums ams a may give best promise of the achievement ot of justice but whether we a are re mistaken or not concerning the general sentiment in the united states we have not mistaken our own duty in in withdraw ing from the republican convention ven tion feeling that it is better to b be e right and with the minority in apparent defeat than to 0 o be wrong with the majority in apparent triumph we hold that in the great work of so social ial evolution in this country monetary reform stands abille as ahe first requisite Nop no olcy however promising of good results can take its place continuation during tile fie next four years years upon tile the present finan cial system will tring down upon the A american ine rican people that thai cloud of impending evil to avert which should be the first thought of statesmen and the first prayer of patriots pal riols our very institutions are at 1 stake today with ith tile the rapidly inc easing casing population uI ula tion with widely swelling demands demand S the basis bais of our muney 14 i rela relatively lively contracting acting and it llie C people peate a are c passing into a servitude all the more dangerous because it it is not pha physically apparent the nation itself as to other n nation is losing the sturdy courage which could make it defiant in tile the face of 0 injustice and internal wrong prices never will III cease falling under the single gold standard the restoration of bimetallism by thir ry will nill double the basis of our money system in time it will III double the stock of primary motley money of tile thu world will stop falling and steadily elevate them until they will nill regain their normal relation to the vol volume lillie of debts and credits inthe in the world bimetallism will help to bring about the great hope of every social socia I 1 reformer every believer in the advancement of the race who realizes that the instability of prices has been the deadly foe of our toilers boilers and the servant of tile the foreign interest gatherers bimetallism will help to bring the lime lillie when hen a certain expenditure of human toil will produce a certain financial result who among the great masses ol of our people in the united states but feels that his lot would be made better his aspirations take new wings it if he could know in fit tile performance of his labor chit hat would be the die price of his product Is IK not tit this purpose the attention of the people as individuals and worth the attention of political conventions yet tr r be held in this year 1896 Is not this go great an end that all who believe in the possibility of attaining it by the means mean proposed can yield so something of their both in conventions and at the polls poll s it is in the hope that fiat the masses and the remaining conven ill liono will haie hae the courage and a nd the generosity to unite for this that we have dare carcil to offer our views to tile the people of the united states and be cause in the e past there here has bar lacked a rai rallying lying point tor for the ni mashes abbet who nho hold ib ab we e do to this belief we venture an act trusting ting it will aill be received lit in the same spirit of conciliation concession concessi oil and hope with which we put it forth we have endeavored in a ill aln ill anway way to set get the matter before the eyes of our fellow citizens we fc invoke the union of all men anit and all parties who ho believe that tile time lime lias has come for the triumph of justice jubilee it is an ail hour when hen the people may speak for themselves or as indi visuals and through con conventions mentions vent ions yet to lo be held it is ir the right of every citizen to indicate his preferences with this in kiev we offer to the he forthcoming conventions alit and to the people the name of a man for the presidency of ahe united stales liffin public and in a private represents those distinguished virtues which adorned the days and the feeds deeds of the earlier time lime ot of this republic a relur a i to which virtues are arc requisite for tile the pro and contentment of the people and the and command cum manil Inge ins example sample of free institutions that thai man inan Is a henry al teller a man of tile the people anil and for the people ile he Is 1 of 0 no section ills his experience and servi service cep ills hi devotion vollon de to the common justice and ae he common cause W ot of hit his fello ellow we call lit zens has been as wide as the country lie we believe that the people of 0 the united ancs have him in their hearts hiar he c has lia had their interests in his purpose through all the work of an exalted life it Is not merely as the exponent ol of mone monetary larj that we present this man to the people it Is true that lie he has mighty war for or the restoration of 0 I 1 the money of the constitution and his name has been identified as a that of no other living man with this great cause but had his services service be bel bei i less demanded and less noticed in this direction the people would have recognized in him for other labois a statesman of the purest type ills ony on ly poverty has been that of purse in all things thing else the generosities of man to man in kin kendll allf 1 ness of deeds for his fellows fellow and in the study and doings of a mighty career he has been one of the most opulent amerlean american citizens of any age in submitting this name to the people we remind them that just a generation ago from the heart of the boundless west and ed by the finger of god there arose an who was powerful in the work of human deliverance by his wisdom and courage providentially directed millions million were set tree free and the nation kept in its holy it if others shall see this opportunity as we see it if our fellow citizens shall see this duty as we see sec it that sublime history may be repeated and another mn man clothed in the majesty majest V of devotion to the race will be lifted to power where by his wisdom nis lani and courage providentially directed more millions may be made free from chains as galling as those of actual slavery and the nat on may be preserved in tile the unity of its mission to the world fred T dubois R F r pettigrew frank J cannot charles fl arles H hartman benerich ben E rich clarence a alien A if robertson A C cleveland willis sweet amassa C campbell archie al stevenson ht bt evenson enos james jame A M downing charles 11 thomas thoma kearns C J hart fart lyttleton price jack J elliott OJ salisbury J B overton frank C goudy john F vivian J W robert bo john M williams and L at M earl |
