Evening star., 1895-03-04
The Extreme Advocates Have Al
ready Shaped It for 1896.
FREE COINAGE MEN VEHEMENT
They Point the Lesson of BANDS
Defeat.
NO COMPROMISE WANTED

There Is no disposition whatever to await
the developments of an international con-
ference. The intention Of that meeting Is
assumed in advance to be antagonistic to
free coinage The purpose, as the free
coinage men believe, so far as England and
Europe can control it. is to draft another
compromise for use in the next national
campaign in this country, and prevent, If
possible, the straight presentation of the
silver question to the people The free
coinage men, therefore, feel themselves
prepared to go to work at once with their
program They will proceed upon the
scriptural proposition that those who are
not for them are against them, and they
will separate the sheep from the goats in
a way that will leave no doubt as to the
character of the two focks. On the one
side will be the men putting silver above
everything else and insisting absolutely
upon free coinage, whether foreign powers
consent or not, and on the other side will
be the gold monometallsts and those
friends of silver willing to accept the COM
promise which may have been indicated by
the deliberations of the conference.
Free Coinage Men Active.
The free coinage men are already urging
their cause with vehemence. They go over
the particulars of the long campaign from
1878 to the present time, and argue that
every disaster sustained by silver in the
several battles fought is to be traced dis
tinctly to the divisions existing in the
silver camp. Free coinage, they assert,
might have won but for the temporizing
of some Of it's champions at critical times.
The cause, as they claim, has never been
properly handled. 1t is worthy of the
highest and greatest effort, and only such
an effort made in it's behalf can win the
the free coinage men believe. The day for
compromises is past. Another compromise,
even though arranged with outside assist
ance, means another defeat, and another
long period, with but scant provisions in
the wilderness. The free coinage men are
tired of the wilderness, and are gaunt
from short rations. and they want
change.
Another point they are urging is that
these repeated compromises and defeats
are denud.ng the silver party Of its tall
though far from standing alone, is yet the
most conspicuous in evidence. The Mis-
souri, Congressman has come to national
proportions in the cause. He has stood
among the leaders in the House for fifteen
years, always consistent and always ag-
gressive. He has never himself been a
compromiser. but has always insisted that
free and unlimited coinage was the only
satisfactory solution to be offered of the
silver question. But he has never been
able to prevent compromises, and so at
last he has received his official death
notice along with the compromisers them
selves.
His defeat for reelection Is reckoned a
serious loss to silver in Congress. His in
formation on the subject Is wide, and his
parliamentary experience extended. The
1ree coinage men put MIR. Bland up as an
awful example; The people. they declare.
have thus, as in other cases, declared for
different and far more vigorous policy.
The old line of warfare must be abandon
ed. As strong men as MIR. Bland. even,
have shown themselves to be helpless with
such tactics. The new leaders must raise
the standard Of no compromise, and fight
1t out on that line If it takes several sum-
mers. But the free coinage men believe
that one summer will be sufficient, and that
the next national campaign, If the friends
of silver can all be brought together, will
chronicle the success of the silver move
ment The new men coming in, and the
old members remaining, are warned Of MIR.
Bland's fate, and asked to note well what
1t signifies, and to put aside all tempta-
tionS to fOrego any advantage that silver
may possess in the approaching struggle.
Speculation as to the Conference.
While they declare themselves as resolved
not to be Influenced by the results of an
International conference, the free coinage
men are full of speculation as to what
the meeting may be expected to bring
forth. We start with the proposition that
the aim will be to formulate an interna-
tional compromise. Free coinage, If possi-
BILE, Is to be prevented. This was the
proposition that confronted the gold party
in this country in the spring of 1890, and
the Sherman act was the result. But
that was treated merely from a local stand
point. The gold men assumed that the
silver men only desired that the silver out
put of American mines should be con-
sidered, and they brought forward the
Sherman act providing for the purchase
of stated amount of silver bullion per
month. But the question cannot be con-
sidered in this form by an International
conference. 1t cannot be assumed or as
serted there that the American silver mine
owners the only people in interest in
the agitation of the silver question, nor
can any scheme be assured of considera-
ton having for its object only the taking
care of silver bullion. But, of course,
whatever the compromise reached may be
must apply to the United States as to the
other countries participating in the con-
ference, and inasmuch as the national cam
paign will be at hand, 1t will probably re-
ceive its first popular test here. What will
be Its terms? What will the American sill
Yer mine owner, though not especially con-
sidered in the preparation of the compro-
mise, find in 1t to his advantage? What
will the gold men of England find in it to
their advantage? How much silver will
they consent to take at the hands of an
international conference after SO stubborn
ly resisting for SO many years the taking
OF any silser at all when pressed to do so
by the friends of silver in the United
States? And how long, even If such COM
promise should be ratified everywhere,
would it remain in operation?
The Sherman act lived only about three
years, and during half of that time was
the. subject of severe censure by both sides.
The gold men were the first to repudiate it,
and the silver men soon followed suit.
Great things were promised in case of its
repeal. Repeal was accomplished. but the
great things have not come to pass. The
financial situation, indeed, was never so
complicated, or distress great, as now.
Would an international compromise meet
similar fate and produce similar result?
No Compromise to he Urged.
These are the questions the free coinage
men are asking the shutters go up on
the last day of the Fifty-third Congress,
and they fairly outline the appeal they will
make to the people in the state campaigns
this fall and elsewhere on the subject of
the duty of the hour. The friends of silver
will be called out of both of the old camps,
and urged to take a stand for the white
metal which will admit of no compromise,
and which must put the question to such
test as will give to the campaign of next
year the most profound and far-reaching
Importance and Significance.