The herald., 1893-08-24
THE PROGRESS OF raa SILVER FIGHT.

As far 90 the action of the cappers 70
the single gold standard can make tha
result inevitable. through their contro
Of every organ Of public opinion, every
thing goes to establish the position s'
gladly heralded through the agencies o
the Associated Press, that there will b
an unconditional repeal OF the purchss
ing clause Of the Sherman act. Senator
White is quoted, and doubtless correctly
as taking this view OF the matter. and
he certainly has unusual opportunities
for forming correct opinion, being on
tho ground and being an unusually
acute observer. Notwithstanding the
fact that Senator Hsnsbroueh OF North
Dakota is quoted as confirming Senator
Whites opiaion, we do not believe that
an unconditional repeal Of the Sherman
act is possible.
Very enduring political history is now
being made in the United States. There
is grave reason to believe that the un-
conditional repeal of the silver purchas-
ing clause of the Sherman act would
have disastrous effects on the future Of
the Democratic party. II certainly
would have on the fortunes of persons
heretofore recognized as Democrats.
Aspecial resentment will lodge against
men who hsve heretofore posed as BIZ
metallists, and who have carried their
professions OF devotion to bimetallism to
the extent of protesting to have been in
favor of free coinage. Conspicuous
amongst these Democratic statesmen
has been Senator Voorhees,. of Indiana.
This gentleman has in the past been
unequivocal in proclsiming bis devotion
to free coinage. He has thus been in.
vested with the malign power of doing
far more damage to the cause to which
he assumes to be friendly than if he had
been its open, honest and avowed
enemy,
1t is hard to see how Senator voor-
hees could face an intelligent audience,
assume to be friend Of silver and yet
be willing to put the white metal under
the feet of its relentless enemies. He
must know that if the goldbugs win
their 6ght-and he is one OF their latest
recruits-thst the cause of silver is lost
forever, at least as the wotld. is consti.
tuted today. There are not wanting
abundant signs that the world will not
always be constituted as it ia today. In
this age revolutions mature quickly, es-
pecislly ii they are provoked. But moth
ing is more certain than that if tho |
clause of the Sherman act is
repealed without equivalent legislation
for silver the white metal will be dis
credited as money for an indefinite time.
Its price will go down, aud with it will
go the price of wheat. barley. rye. oats,
potatoes and everything tnst the farmer
producessJ by an inevitable process
every man who owes anything will find
the burden Of his debt increased by from
fifty to one hundred per cent. in the
scarcity OF money of every
kind.
In the battle over silver 80 far the ad-
hesion of Senator Vest, of Missouri, to
the ranks of the silverites. has been Off
set by the detection of Senator Voor-
heee from the ranks of the bimetallists.
It is very safe to assume, however, that
while Vest has confirmed and increased
his popularity in Missouri, in the great
southwest and south, and
with the great mass of the people of
the United States generally, Senator
Vo0rhees's political star IL in declension.
He will never know again the need OF
popular approval that has greeted him
in the old days:
1t is really more than properly consti-
tuted people can stand to be told by }
himself that Voorhees, can be gold bug
and friend of silver at the same time.
1t very frequently happens that. in a
circus, man may ride two and even
four horses at one time, but it has never
yet been known that the most accom-.
plished acrobat Of the arena, political
or sawdust, could ride two horses at the
same time, each going in an opposite
direction. We may be quite sure that
the voters Of Senator Voorhees's own
11OUeiol cthto uhVo ohoiI onBic Oycn uAcu
on that gentleman, and that their Bcru.
tiny BODIES him no good.
Those who take An interest in the all
yer contest should bear one thing in
mind, and that is that the present
onslaught of the gold bugs has been
meditated for years. They have yet a
number of their champions to produce,
and as each makes his appearance in
either senste or house he will be an
nounced to the country with flourish
of trumpets. The great speech on that
side will undoubtedly be made in the
house by Bourke Cochran. When his
splendid Grafton has been delivered
and from an oratorical point of view it
will be superb--the repeating sentiment
will have reached its perihelion. But
the advocates of silver have innumera.
BILE good men and true, both in the
senate and house, and the probabilities
are almost absolute that the Sherman
act will never be repealed without COM
pensatory legislation for silver in the
same repeating bill.