Show DISINTEGRATION OF DEMOCRACY The great majority of the Democrats of the country are for silver and it is the general belief that the Democratic national convention will declare for free coinage Because of this many think they see the beginning of the disintegration dis-integration of the Democratic party Those who think they see this are mostly those who advocate the gold standard Consciously or unconsciously they make the assumption that the party is held together by the gold standard If the party is really beginning be-ginning to disintegrate which it certainly cer-tainly is not should not that disintegration disinte-gration be traced to the attempt of Mr Cleveland and some other leaders to commit the party to the gold standard stand-ard What but the attempt to force the gold standard upon the party as its fundamental principle has led to so much talk about a bolt at the Chicago Chi-cago convention Tlie gold men of the party have arrogated to themselves all the virtues of the party while their talk has been of the pc V ouspatriotic kind as though they aTTme were attached at-tached to the principles of Democracy It is not denied that very many able and distinguished Democrats are opposed op-posed to free silver and believe that if the party takes it up it will bring disaster upon the party If it brought defeat that would not necessarily mean the beginning of disintegration The party has often met defeat in the past third of a century but there have been no signs that it was going to pieces If the very great majority of the party go over to free silver why should it break up Is it not far more likely that the small minority I that would refuse to accept silver would disintegrate Those who predict the disintegration of the Democratic party forget that it is not a party of one idea that its fundamental principles are those of eternal liberty that the great source of its life is its faith in the people and their capacity for self government They forget that its birth was coeval with that of the nation itself that while other parties have come into I existence run their race then passed away the Democratic party still lives having seen all these others die And what are the Democrats demanding today They are demanding that the party shall return to the principles of Jefferson and Madison and Jackson I When a party goes back to the principles prin-ciples of its founders to the source I of all its inspiration there is no danger I that it will go to pieces The danger I that it will is when it neglects to do I I this when it departs from the teachings teach-ings of the fathers and runs after false gods Some of its trusted leaders have been trying to instil into it new doctrines to have it forsake the old ones and follow false gods It has refused re-fused to follow them further and it has done well II I |