Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1892-04-02
SATURDAY. ..........APRIL 2. 1892.
The Democrats Not Yet United.

We are glad TO see that, az reported in
our issue of yesterday, Mr.. BLAND. chair
man Of the Coinage Committee in the
House Of Representatives. no longer cen
sures Speaker CRISP for refusing to report
Q cloture rule on the free-coinage bill. we
took the ground as soon as the Speakers
decision was reported in the papers that
he could not well have acted otherwise
than he did, seeing that he had merely re-
rognizsd facts as facts and done nothing
worse than "let the Democrats down
without shocking them. The one impor-
liant factor seeming fact-which the
Speaker recognized was that free-coinage
had been side-trhcked in the House OF
Representatives and could not be, or at
least would not be. put upon the main
track again this year.
Mr. MORGAN, Of Alabama. seems not to
be pleased with the action Of the Demo-
Gratis Of the House Of Representatives and
makes known his determination not to
submit in silence to the wrong which he
thinks the people suffered when those
Democrats consented to postpone the con-
alteration of the free-coinage question
until after the next presidential election.
He may fear, too. that the postponement
is not simply until the pending presi-
Dental campaign shall end, but post
ponement which will in effect be forever.
Dir. MORGAN is an able lawyer and
worthy to rank with the best in the
United States as an expounder OF the
Federal Constitution and as a student
of politico-economIcal science. He laughs
70 soorn the efforts of the so-called states
men of to-day to teach him science
which he learned many years ago under
the tutelage of the profoundest statesmen
our country has ever produced. He Will
hand their horn-books back to the senators
who have mad the bad taste to attempt to
ridicule him and his theories We say he
may desire TO discuss these questions forth
with because the side-tracking of silver
until after the close OF the approaching
presidential election NAV seem TO him to
involve its side-trackinG forever.
We notice. too. that the Atlanta COnsfiti-
lion, which, we suppose. we may term the
leading Democratic paper in the South,
or at least one of the most influential or
gans of southern public sentiment, is of
the opinion that the Chicago convention
will under existing circumstances be CON-
PEELED 20 make "a clear, bold. and yigor-
Gus utterance on the silver question"
That paper saws that if the able leaders in
Congress who have permitted fifty-one
Democrats to dictate the suppression Of
the free-coinage bill will go out into the
country places and consult the real people
they will find that they have stirred up Is
storm which they will have some trouble
in controlling. The logic OF the situation
demands clear utterance of the Chicago
convention ON the silver question
that is, On utterance Enthusiastically
for or against free coinege-or rather
would demand such an utterance if.the
southern people were free in fact as well
rs in name. But they are not free. They
are shut up on the presidential question
TO choice between the Republican nomi-
nee and the Democratic nominee, and will
feel in duty bound to support the latter.
II there are untrustworthy Democrats in
Congress they are nevertheless much more
reliable. so far as our highest interests ere
concerned, than the Republicans. The
South cannot afford TO threaten TO desert
the only party which has stood by her and
fer interests and her sons ever since the
terrible days Of reconstruction. And the
Democrats of Massachusetts,, Rhode
Island. Connecticut. and the eastern and
middle States know that their party asso-
ciates in the South cannot afford to cut
loose from them. let them do what they
will with free coinage.