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Shown In His True Light

Shown In His True Light image
Parent Issue
Day
7
Month
October
Year
1898
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

The following closing remarks taken from the speech of Senator Forsythe' at Midland before the Democratie repv resentative convention, very ably and pointedly present Governor Pingree in the trae Hght in which voters should s,ee ui uu ■ "It is a favorite argument of Mr. Pingree's henchmen when urglng the sil ver men of the House and Senate to support Mr. Pingree's measures that 'íie is as good a silver inau as aiiy of us.' Tliey say. 'Don't he believe in , an income and an inheritance tax?' Has he not said that 'the Demacratic party has kicked the bad members out of the party and that these birds of 111ocnen have taken refuge ünder the wing of the Republican party?' Does he not cürse 'Dingley and his pang,' as he ealls them', and McMillan and nearly all the other leaders of the party and has he ever been heard to say a disrespectful word of Mr. Bryan or' the other leaders of the silvor party? All of which I' am forccd to admit he has believed1 and said. lu faet one oamiot deny that he has from time to time believed and said nearly' ëverything that any body else ever believeVl or sáid. but his beïiefs and sayinjrs have nothing to do with the right or wrong of any question and those worc no arguments why any one should either support or oppose Mr. Pingree's measuros. Such things as tliese indícate whát a desperate effort has been continually made by the (ïovornor and his ffïends to pull the wool over the eyes of the silver men and lmpress upon my mind the fact that Mr. Pingree has no use for any man, political party or platform further tluui they can be made to serve his political ambitions. If Mr. Pingree sineerely believes in the principies of the new Democracy as his frieuds claim he does then he is, to put it the mildest, unmanly and dishonorable and if he does not sineerely believe in these principies then he is a hypocrite and merits the contempt due to all hypocrites. "The Republicnn party reprosents the principies of gold monometalism or biluctalisni by internation,a.l agreement. "The new Democracy represents the principies of Independent bimetalisin or free colnage of silver. "Between tliese two great principies there is a wlde guit'. If the former is riant cvci-y man that believes so sliou'id Iay aside every minor differLliic. :ii)ii fïxrb.t houlder to shouWer witü tnose" bêliéving on tms one great question as he does regardless of whother he likes or dislikes them. On the other hand if he believes in the principies of the new Démocragy no selfish consideration should prevent him fTom taking nis place in the runks and making an honest fight for the sueeess of these principies. The man that stands for an election on one platform anI either believes or pretends to believe in the principies of the other in this crisis is either a miserable traitor or a contemptible hypoeríte. "At times when there is no great principie at issue so vitally eiïecting the welfare of the wealth producers of the nation a naan might consistently throw party loyalty aside but in such a crisis as this no man can be honest and be a straddler. "Draw on your imagination suffieiently if you can to contémplate Abraham Lincoln runuing as a candidate for governor on the old slavery democrat platfoi'tn, cursing its leaders and claiming to believe in the principies of the new-born republican party either sincerely or insincerely to eatch the votes of abolit'onists in order to win an election. Have you an imagination fertile enough to draw that picture? You have bef ore you in Michigan a man aspiring to the fame of Lincoln that is a star actor in just such a miserable farce, and whom the immortal Lincoln would have despised. "There is no denyiug the fa et that Mr. Pingree has played Tí is game skilfully in keoping the populist and free silvrr papers and hundreds of the rank and file of the party blowing his hom and assisting his boom. It was not strange that. this was the case. It was difficult to believe that he wás insincere in his loud professions of devotion to the cause of the common people and it is little wonder that when, contrary to his convietions and his own express agreement and the confident trust of the sil ver men of the state he accepted a nominatiön on a gold platform, that his buttons were torn off and trampled into the earth and even a child of seven years understood the pei-tidy of the actiën and said, 'I Uaue no use for Pingree any more.' "He can no longer fooi thé silver men and henceforth he will be forced to obtain his support from the party he effects so much disdain for and whose leaders he so ardently curses In eeason and out of season aud whose expulsión from the party he is vain enough to hope that it is his mission to perform. "Let him continue to 'rip the republican party up the back,' as bis friends boast he is doing, but let all silver men remember that the new Democracy eannot afford to be the ally of a man who is a traitor in the enemy's camp but mast rely for only on open and honorable warfare. "Henceforth let the new Democracy be as loyal to their platform and leaders as were the members of the youug republican party in the days of Lincoln and the future greatness of the party is assured. "Let no hypocrltlcaJ pretender allure us for a moment from the support of our platform and leaders remembering the old maxim, 'He that is not with us is against us.' "

Article

Subjects
Ann Arbor Argus
Old News