St. Paul daily globe., 1895-07-03

an element has been created which
promises now to be strong enough to
commit the Republican party alb
We need only instance the state
of affairs in Minnesota Last year
it was supposed that the sound
money Republicans had won. Cast
ing aside their meaningless and
equivocating platform, few of their
leaders, with the candidate for gov
ernor at the head, forced the fighting
against the demand for free coin
age. They carried the state, thanks
to dissensions and lack of loyalty on
the Democratic side. 1t is only eight
months since that happened, and now
we have a movement which threat
ems to swallow the Republican party
in this state, started and actively
furthered by the most active among
it's younger leaders, to carry it bodily
into the free silver camp. In Min
nesota it is the Republicans who are
today promising to call a state
convention in the name of their party
to declare for the free coinage of
silver by the United States alone at
the ratio of 16 to 1. - When a party
has been carried as far as this from
the position that it held so boast
ingly little more than half a year
before, the free silver drift is strong
indeed. '.se
In the opposition party we see a
tendency as strong and as marked
in the contrary direction. When the
Democratic members of the last
congress refused to follow the wise
lead of the administration on the
financial question, they planted and
watered the seeds Of party disorder.
They did, indeed. put their veto on
free coinage. as they had repealed
the abominable Sherman act for the
purchase of silver bullion But they
formulated no policy which could
represent to the country the delib-
crate attitude of Democracy. and it
was the declared intent of some of
them to make free silver the first, if
not the only, y,plank in the future party
platform. Their campaign has been
carried on aggressively. They sprung
their snap convention in Illinois and
carried their point. They engineered
the Memphis convention, and have
asked for national conference in
the interest of foisting the free silver
issue upon the Democracy at large.
But here, also, the reaction has
set in which carries the Democracy
toward the sound currency system,
just as it is carrying the Repub-
llcans upon the silver rocks. The
Kentucky state convention was the
Waterloo of the silver monometal-
lists. They were met and beaten on
their chosen ground.
At the same time come from all
parts of the Union cheering indica-
tions that the spirit of Democracy
is reused and that it will not permi I
the party of its love and hope to be
drawn away from its historic plat
form. In Missouri have been found
the most outSpoken advocates of
free silver within the Democratic
ranks. Bland and Vest are men to
whom silver stands for more than
national honor and prosperity, and
success. Yet the Democratic COM
mittee of the state which these men
represent has refused by a vote of
10 to 5 to call a convention in the
interest Of free coinage. Senator
Voorhees,, of Indiana, is a known
free Silverite; and his colleague,
Senator Turpie, attended the Mem
phiS convention, and gave there his
remarkable dissertation on the wild
ow's mite" and attached his name
to the address that was to convert
the Democratic party into an agency
for the establishment of silver mono
meta11ism. Yet the chairman of the
Democratic committee of Indiana
represented by these men in the
United States senate, has refused
with equal positiveness and alacrity
to call a similar convention in that
state.
What do these things mean? The
officers of party committees and
their members are in closer touch
with the people than senators. and
congressman. 1t is their business to
watch the currents of party opinion,
and to shape their course according
ly. Their cue is not to lead, but to
follow; and these men in all the
states are taking action which shows
that they have fathomed the strength
of the free silver movement, and
are convinced that it cannot carry
the Democracy along with it. The
IcdClIOE Has COIiie. he people Oh
Democratic faith are weary of bick-
erings. They are incensed at the at
tempt to divide the party. They
realize the folly and the crime of
risking the party's very existence
on an issue which is contrary to the
teachings of its greatest leaders in
the past. The Democratic voters
are awake to the Importance of the
occasion and to their opportunity.
AS surely as the earth revolves and
the seasons pass, SO surely is the
way of success now open to the
party'S vision. We believe that be-
fore this year has ended, the drift
of the masses will have carried the
Republicans to a position either pos
itively or conStructively in favor of