Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-06-24
The Struggle for "Free Coinage" in
the Platform Committee.
FAMMANY PLEDGES LOYALTY
District Representatives at Chicago
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OTHER TELEGRAPHIC NEWS
THE FIGHT ON SILVER.
Inside History Of the Struggle in the Pla
form Committee.

form Committee.
CHICAGO, June 24-The story from the inside
Of the remarkable fight in the platform COM
mittee on silver is told by Thomas NJ Patter-
son Of Denver, who was one Of the chief parti-
cipants in the struggle.
Mr.. Patterson said: "The controversy over
the coinage plank arose almost soon as that
upon the tariff was disposed of. The silver reso-
luton that had been prepared and offered by Mr..
Jones was the one around which the controversy
for a long time centered- That plank declared
in favor of free coinage of gold and silver at
established ratio, the metal in both dollars
to be of same intrinsic value.
Discussion" continued Mr.. Patterson, "arose
as to the use Of some Of the words in il.
and il commenced to develop that the
one obnoxious word in the resolution was
free For a long time it was urged
upon the one side that free should
be eliminated: on the other that il should not, Sen
ators Mcpherson and Villas and ex-senator Bay
ard claiming that the word free added moth
ing to the force of the resolution, which they
maintained did declare for free bimetallic coin
age.
1t was asked IL without a word free II is q
free coinage plank why did they object 70 the
use of the word? Why not say TO the people Of
the United States in unmistakable language pre-
cisely what the party meant upon thatsubiect? To
this il was replied that the word free was
catch word. which AS applied TO coinage. was Of
fensive to thousands in the eastern and north
western states, and that it would lose votes 10
the party without being necessary to accomplish
the end desired. When this point was made IL
was proposed to strike out the obnoxious word
and use the words for the holders in its stead,
so that the part of the resolution under discus
| sion would read as follows: We hold to the use
of both gold and silver as the standard money
of the country. and the coinage Of both gold
and silver for the holders thereof without dis
elimination against either metal but the charge
for coinage :,
''that the test of free coinage after all was the
coinage of gold and silver for the
the government of bullion first pur-
chased by it for that purpose; that this
is the way in which gold is coined and on which
silver was coined until its demonstration in
| 1873, and that il they would use either the
word Free or instead OF it the words for the
| holders it would, so tar the platform was
concerned, satisfy the free silver men OF the
| country.
..Senator Mcpherson was frank enough to ad-
nit that the resolution where the word free
was contained in it or the words proposed 70 be
substituted did not mean the same thing as
| without them.
'I told our opponents that since IL was evil
| dent that Mr.. Cleveland would be nominated
and probably elected the free coinage men,
believing that Mr.. Cleveland would veto any
free coinage measure, wanted an anchor cast
| to windward so that at the expiration Of his
term we could still maintain that the democratic
| party was pledged to free bimetallic coinage
and we could demand that the pledge might
be fulfilled by his successor. We pointed
out that the resolution as We were
willing to accept it conceded the most
exacting demands of the opponents of free
coinage as they were made public. We asked
them if they were bimetallists how they could
object to the free coinage OF silver dollars OF
the same intrinsic value with gold dollars, and
if they did not object that they should oppose
plain declaration to that effect?
1.-The controversy made il very clear that our
opponents would concede almost anything but
| a clear declaration for free coinage or the use
of language that necessarily meant the same
thing They were told that it demonstrated
what democratic free coinage men feared
that the real fundamental difference
between them and their opponents,
so-called bimetallists, was that the free coinage
men demanded a double or gold and silver
standard of value, while their opponents were,
ut heart, single gold standard men, willing to
appear under the garb of bimetallists until the
cloak might be safely thrown of and the single
standard insisted upon.
THAT WAS where the subcommittee stalled, 7"
Mr.. Patterson explained, I'VE demanding
clear recognition Of the principle and they
denying it. Senators Villas and McPher-
son, with ex-senator Bayard, were the
active opponents Of the request
of free coinage men. Senator Daniel and
| were the active free coinage men. Mr.. Jones
being chairman of the subcommittee, remained
neutral in controversy, while Mr.. Atkins
of Tennessee, former commissioner Of
Indian affairs under Mr.. Cleveland,
sought to act a peacemaker, in argument sid
ing with us. but casting his votes with the 9TH
ers, in behalf, as he expressed it, Of harmony in
the democratic party. The other members OF
the subcommittee as q rule were patient listen
err.
I'VE must have devoted about three hours Of
time and until long after midnight to the fight
over that little innocent word free"
Mr.. Patterson laughingly added: "But our
opponents defeated us and held it in captivity.
The subcommittee were out until $50 in
the morning. The only planks that occu-
pied any time were those of tariff and
silver. The subcommittee reported to the full
committee at O'Clock on the second .day of
the convention and everything went along
smoothly before it until the silver plank was
reached, when the contest was resumed The
merits Of the question we're not gone into then.
Thecontroversy here consisted of earnest appeals
by the Senators for harmony in the party by
keeping out the obnoxious words and equally
earnest appeals on our part for the clear recog-
milton Of the principle Of free coinage, but We
were beaten by vote Of Is ayes 10 2s or 2s
nays.
"A few Of u.s." said Mr. Patterson, In conclu-
, sion, although we knew il was . hopeless un-
dertaking, felt that we should carry the fight to
its logical conclusion, which was on the hoor of
the convention. This We did, with the result
/ L. xox xln Ia