We declare our belief that the experiment on the part of the United States alone of free silver coinage and a change in the existing standard of value, independently of the action of other great nations, would not only imperil our finances, but would retard, or entirely prevent, the establishment of international bimetallism, to which the efforts of the Government should be steadily directed.
It would place this country at once upon a silver basis, impair contracts, disturb business, diminish the purchasing power of the wages of labor, and inflict irreparable evils upon our nation’s commerce and industry.
Until international co-operation among leading nations for the coinage of silver can be secured, we favor the rigid maintenance of the existing gold standard as essential to the preservation of our national credit, the redemption of our public pledges, and the keeping inviolate of our country’s honor.
We insist that all our paper currency shall be kept at a parity with gold. The Democratic party is the party of hard money, and is opposed to legal tender paper money as a part of our permanent financial system, and we therefore favor the gradual retirement and cancellation of all United States notes and treasury notes, under such legislative provisions as will prevent undue contraction.
We demand that the national credit shall be resolutely maintained at all times and under all circumstances.
The People’s party, then better known as the Populists, and the Free Silver party, held their conventions at St. Louis on the 22d of July. The cheap-money elements were divided into two extreme factions, with a third that was known as the “Middle-of-the-Road” men. The Populist convention was presided over by Senator Butler, of North Carolina, as temporary chairman, and Senator Allen, of Nebraska, as permanent president, and the question of acting with the Democratic party in support of the Chicago platform and candidate for President, was settled by the preliminary motion to proceed to the nomination of a candidate for Vice-President. It was adopted by 785 to 615. That meant the nomination of Bryan, but the rejection of Sewall. A single ballot was had for Vice-President, resulting as follows:
| Thomas E. Watson, Ga. | 539 | ³⁄₄ |
| Arthur Sewall, Maine | 257 | ¹⁄₈ |
| Frank Burkett, Miss. | 190 | ³⁄₄ |
| Harry Skinner, N. C. | 142 | ¹⁄₄ |
| A. L. Mims, Tenn. | 118 | ⁵⁄₁₆ |
| Mann Page, Virginia | 89 | ⁵⁄₁₆ |
Watson lacked over 100 of the majority, but a sufficient number of delegates promptly changed their votes to make him the nominee. After nominating the candidate for Vice-President, the convention proceeded to ballot for President, as follows:
| William J. Bryan, Neb. | 1,042 |
| S. F. Norton, Ill. | 321 |
| Eugene B. Debs, Ind. | 8 |
| Ignatius Donnelly, Minn. | 3 |
| J. S. Coxey, Ohio | 1 |
The following platform was adopted after three minority reports had been rejected: