Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-06-26
A BATTLE ROYAL.
What the Friends of Free Coinage
Are Preparing For.
HEADQUARTERS TO Be OPENED HERE.
What is Hoped For in the Next
Congress.
THE LEADERS ON THE FLOOR.

The friends OF free coinage, alarmed at the
progress made by the President in his cam
paign against the Sherman law. are redoubling
their efforts to protect their organization from
further inroads, and to this end will open head
quarters here within few days. Ex-Congress-
man Warner of Ohio and Congressman-elect
Ncwlands Of Nevada will be in charge, and will
not only direct the dissemination Of free silver
literature, but will assign the speakers who will
advocate that cause in the states holding cleo
tions this year. The claim is made by the
friends of silver that they are amply provided
with the sinews of war, and that among the
speakers taking the stump this fall will be
found many mon of national reputation willing
to stake all on the fight for the white metal
THE FIELD WEST AND SOUTH.
The program announced covers all the ter
ritory south and west where party tickets are
now being put in the field. No serious contests
are to be made in the eastern or in the middle
states. The silver men assume that in those
localities sentiment is already made up against
them, and that campaign there by them would
be time and money wasted. They will concen-
trate their forces when developed They have
found friends and sympathy and make o last
appeal Tor support.
1t is conceded by the champions of silver that
they will be beaten for good, and future finan-
cial legislation will show but small if any i'm
prlntof their ideas activity. This last hazard,
therefore. is inducing them to arrange their
work with care and to make the most judicious
distribution possible of their forces.
UTILIZING DEMOCRATS.
noticeable feature of this campaign is the
putting forward Of democrats wherever they
can be found and utilized. The free silver re-
publicans earnestly enlisted in the cause
as ever. but for obvious reasons they are keep
ing in the background now. The last returns
from the country we're overwhel lmingly demo-
cratic. The responsibility in Congress is with
the democracy. and hence the democrats have
been selected to plead the cause Of free silver
and to manage the campaign. But, although
In the background. republicans like Senators
Teller and Wolcott and ex-republicans like
Senator Stewart will contribute to the cause
in whatever way they best can, and in the west
they will even take the stump.
LEADERSHIP IN CONGRESS.
The free silver leadership in the next Con-
gress has already been arranged. Mr.. Bland Of
Missouri will again come forward in the House,
and as chairman of the committee on coinage,
weights and measures, a position the silver men
are confidently claiming for him, sound the
KEYNOTE of that side OF the controversy. Mean
while he will have been on the stump and in
Qlb travels nave IaO0ll0x1X00 h1mDox Wltn manY
Of his new colleagues.
But the Senate is the real hope Of the silver
men. and there they will be led by Mr.. Morgan
OF Alabama. Everything is staked upon his
leadership, which in the past on the silver ques-
ton has been energetic and aggressive. Mr.
Morgan Is a strong debater, and unusually
well-informed man. In fact, the wonder has
frequently been expressed that so able and SO
widely read man should be found on the sub
ject Of finance in company he does not meet on
any other great public question. But he is an
advocate Of the free coinage of silver, and
heretofore has taken the most extreme ground
on that subject. He led the opposition last
winter in the contest which resulted in the de-
feat of the m otion for the repeal of the Sher-
man act, and his language in the Senate on that
occasion furnishes the basis for the expectation
that he will again oppose that proposition.
THEIR HOPE IN SENATOR MORGAN.
1t is suggested here. however, that Senator
Mor"en may return from abroad with his views
on b liver question somewhat changed. The
argum5n mt in the BerIng case is at an end, and
the arDitrators, of whom Mr.. Morgan is one,
will probably be ready to deliver their decision
by the LIST of August. But he will then have
been in France for five months, in position to
meet and confer with many men of continental
eminence on financial and other subjects. He
is fond of research and discussion, and those
who know Mr.. Morgan well predict that he has
not confined his thoughts alone to the question
Of seals. The opportunity has been tempt
ing for him to study the financial opera
tions of the most solvent country in Eu-
rope, and the belief is general here that he has
improved it. II he has his own financial views,
it is suggested, must have broadened, and he
will reflect the change in his attitude and ex-
pressions in the Senate when it meets. Mr.
Morgan never takes the stump. and conse-
quently he will not participate in the coming
campaign. The interest, therefore. attaching
to mis- present views on silver is not likely to be
thoroughly satisfied prior to his formal deiv-
erance in the Senate.