Middletown transcript., 1895-04-27
Washington
.......Letter

| hgLZklxX u land has stirred
3al,UwlM II up over the silver
fH&ZZZN Il question. They
| 2 I'm w. have expected for
some time that
the Democratic party would split into
silver and gold factions before the open
ing of the Presidential campaign, and
those expectations seem now to be in
a fair way of materiaIizing into facts.
They are merely amused by the CHI
merical assertions of certain of Mr..
Cleveland's followers, that the Repub-
lican party would support Mr.. Cleve-
land on single gold standard plat
form. They know that not even
small section of the Republican party
could under any combination of cir
cumstances be brought to support Mr..
Cleveland upon any platform. They
are quite as much amused by the as
sertion that the Republican party, out
side of the extreme Western States, is
a gold standard party. Of course it is
needless to say to any intelligent Re-
publican, and most Republicans are in-
telligent, whether he lives North, East,
South or West, that the Republican
party is not, never has been, and is not
likely to be single standard party.
The Republican parry has, since the
question has been raised, repeatedly de-
clared in its national platforms in
favor of bimetallism, which the Gen.
tury Dictionary thus defines: 'The
use of two metals as money at relative
values set by legislative enactment;
the union of two metals in circulation
as money at fixed rate. Specifically,
that system of coinage which recog-
nizes both coins of silver and coins of
gold as legal tender to any amount, or
the concurrent use of coins of two
metals as circulating medium at
fixed relative value" There is no in-
dication that the next Republican
national convention will do otherwise
that reaffirm that declaration. There
is only one single standard gold party,
and that is the Cleveland wing of the
Democratic party.
| Even rock-ribbed Democrats had to
smile when the official announcement
was made that the Treasury depart
ment would no longer collect and dis
seminate statistics relating to the
manufacture of tin and terne plate in
the United States. The reason was
plain. Every publication of figures
showing the increase of this industry,
which was one of those established by
the MCKINLEY tariff law, was officially
giving the lie to every Democrat editor
and stump speaker who took part in the
last Presidential campaign, all of whom
had declared in the most positive terms
that there was no such thing as the
manufacture of tin and terne plates
for commercial purposes In the United
States, and predicted that three
months after the election It would be
impossible to find an American tin
plate factory at work. But the makers
of the Mckinley law knew what they
were about. They gave the manu-
facture of tin and terne plate such
firm footing In the United States that
it has continued to grow, although its
growth has been slow since the enact
ment of the Democratic tariff. Had
the Republican party continued in
power there would to-day have been
no need to import a pound of tin or
terne pli te.
Secretary Morton continues to make
an exhibition of himself, through his
daily newspaper interviews on the beef
question. He seriously presents argu-
ments to prove what everybody has
known from the frst-that the price of
beef was forced up and kept up by the
beef trust, and then just as seriously
announces his inability TO do anything
to help the people. Really he is very
funny little man. Then, he talks too
much, but his talk amuses the country,
and in taese shard times' the people
need all the free amusement they can
get. His latest interview advocates the
single gold standard of finance.
That there are number of hungry
Democrats still unprovided for is
shown by the number of applicants for
the vacancy in the Deputy Comp
trollership of the Treasury, caused by
the death last week of Hon. Charles
H. Mansur. One Of these applicants
an ex-Congressman-is charged with
having circulated petition asking for
the office as soon as it was announced
that Mr.. Mansur's illness would pro-
badly be fatal. No matter who gets
the office this ghoul should not.
Secretary Gresham is quite touchy
over that apology demanded from
Spain on account of the firing on the
Alliance, and which has never been
made. 1t is said that an old personal
friend of his attempted to jolly him a
little about it and that he quickly
made it plain that it was a forbidden
subject. The new Spanish minister is
expected to arrive here in few days,
and that his arrival will shortly be
followed :by an apology from his
government for firing on the American
flag or by a demand from his govern
ment that Secretary Gresham apollo
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