St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-06-01
TOM RID.

There were once votes and presi-
denotes wrapped I'D in the bloody shirt.
but that unhappy day has happily
passed. Ii is now believed that a presi-
dency is wrapped up in silver. and am
bilious eyes are ogling the white metal
loving eyes like Bands, which have
never beamed aught but affection OH it,
and cautious eyes like Reeds that have
flashed scorn ere now at the metal
whose fortune it is to be at once the
adOred of some and the reviled of 9TH
ers.
The versatile if truculent ex-speaker
is sitting in a game with MI. Mckinley
in which the Republican presidential
nominatihn is the stake. So far in the
game the latter has been playing his
protection cards, leading trumps and
winning all the tricks. Reeds suit in
these cards is weak, and he has been
waiting the turn of events which would
determine if the silver suit he holds
would not become a strength to his
weak protection cards. liz is evident
from the interview with him which he
permits to reach the public through the
columns of the Fortnighsly Review, that
he is satisfied that he can lead out the
silver suit and sweep in the stake.
Mr.. Reed no doubt recalls the con-
trolling part silver played in 1890; how
it made its terms with protection and
secured the Sherman act as tine price of
its support OF the Mckinley bill, and
how the Sherman act was i%nterposed as
a buffer to save the president and can
didate from ~antagoniZing the silver
states by vetoing a possible free coin
age bill. He has seen the recent break
lug out of bimetallisin in unexpected
quarters in New England; seen Prof.
Walker and President Andrews, and
other eminent educators advocating it;
and he now leads what he evidently
considers the winning card in his game.
The tariff and silver, he says, Ill what
the cable styles his keynote, are not
two issues, but one. To be sure, there
is no novelty in this; the Allison act Of
rs and the Sherman act of 80 were each
as Intentionally protective as was the
tariff act of 'S3 or the more ultra act Of
80, each being designed to do some
thing for silver" to prevent a decline
in its price, just as the tariff acts were
intended to prevent a decline under
competition of the prices of manufac-
lures. But novel or stale. it is all the
same TO the eX.speaker if he can find in
the combination something which will
mystify and bef0g the dear people and
impress them that there is something in
it whether they can see it or not, and
also impress them with the greatness of
Thomas B.
He displays the same predisposition
of the Yankee to swap that Blaine
showed in his reciprocity dodge. Reed
would have congress say to England.
''Open your minis to the free coinage of
silver and we will open our ports a little
wider to your goods. If you don't we
will shut the door tighter" Reed knows
this is sheer humbug; knows the Eng
lishman knows it, and knows that the
EnglIshman knows that he knows it.
1t is only a bit of humbug intended for
home consumption, and we can easily
Imagine Reed thrusting his tongue into
his cheek and tipping his English inter-
viewer a wink as he %propounds his ulti-
matum. The English man, however,
cares very little how much more costly
we make their goods to our people; at
the worst, it only makes us the less
capable of buying; and, as for silver, he
jingleS his silver pieces in his pockets
and says he has all he needs now, and
when he wants more he knows where
and how to get them. We cannot see
that anything now remains for this
presidential angler but to join his Penn
sylvania fellows and demand that the
currency be increased to $40 per capita
to put in his hands all the trick cards in
the game.